


Paths Chosen

by escritoireazul



Series: The Protector Series [6]
Category: Lost Boys (1987)
Genre: Character of Color, F/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-01-01
Updated: 2000-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-06 09:02:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escritoireazul/pseuds/escritoireazul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Lost Boys must deal with Anna's actions in "Forgotten Love", and the problems between them are tearing them apart. It's up to a vampire, a new friend, and old information to set things right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dedication: Sammy, thank you for letting me borrow the Flipster. He's an awesome character, and I can only hope I did him justice. To the Kiras, both of you, for your wonderful feedback, and the constant kicks in the bum when I slow down on my writing. To my Porn Family, for though the SOPs are scarce now, we're still sisters, and our cousins are stepping up to take care of things for us brilliantly.

David tilted the bottle and pressed the rim to Laddie's lips, lifting it higher so that the potion inside would spill into his mouth and trickle down his throat, bringing with it the healing the young vampire so desperately needed.

Star's gaze focused on where the glass met Laddie's mouth, waiting for some sign that he could feel the liquid filling his mouth, some sign that it was having an affect on him, though the numerous spells before this one hadn't animated his unmoving body.

After weeks of no change, even Star herself was close to giving up on the boy she considered her own child. Her constant vigil hadn't been broken since he'd first been taken to the sick room, and the only difference she had seen was the deepening of the color in his cheeks-a color that meant nothing without movement.

"I don't even know if that witch is giving me anything more than colored water," David growled under his breath. Though Star could hear the statement, it was obvious he spoke more to himself than to her, and she refrained form answering. "For all the good they do, at least."

"I want to tear her apart," he continued even as he concentrated on getting the last few drops to roll down the glass and into Laddie's body. "But whenever I get ready to, I remember that it might be the next potion that works, or the one after that, or the one after that. Then I can't kill her, can't destroy what might save him."

He set the empty bottle on bedside table and sat back. His hands dropped to his lap as he waited, watching Laddie's face with a calm expression on his own. When it became clear that this potion, like so many others, had done nothing that they could see, his one-sided rant began again.

"I think torture might bring more improvement," he mused. "A little reminder that if she doesn't make something happen soon, I am going to get too impatient, and she'll die. Punishment is unavoidable after what she did to us-but until then perhaps pain will motivate her."

David stood in one fluid movement and left without looking back at Star. She had become such a part of the sick room that it was almost as if she wasn't there, was almost a piece of the furniture that hadn't changed in all the weeks Laddie had been lying still in the bed.

"You sure didn't punish Anna," Star muttered when she was positive that David couldn't hear her blasphemy. She left the chair she'd put herself in when David had first entered and returned to her spot on the bed next to Laddie. She ran one hand over his hair, a feather-light touch, and couldn't restrain the groan.

It hurt her more to touch him and receive no response than even the idea that he might honestly die. This time spent in limbo put more pain in her heart than his actual death could ever have brought, for he looked as if he might merely be sleeping, or resting his eyes as he listened to her talk. Star's throat tightened until she could barely swallow, because she knew he wouldn't wake up and grin at her, or open his eyes and offer the advice she so sorely needed.

Star groaned again and dropped her face down into her hands. How she needed his words of wisdom. If he would just wake up, he would fix this, all of it. She hadn't realized before just how much she had come to rely on the smart little vampire. He would find a way to stop this widening gap in their Pack, if only he would get better and talk to them.

"Oh, Laddie," she whimpered. The tears began again, tears that she had cried a thousand times since he'd been shot. They slid down her cheeks without the slightest whisper of sound, and dripped down her fingers to splash upon the thick quilt covering his tiny body.

"Star?" Michael's hesitant voice pulled her from her silent misery and Star lifted her head, offering him a view of cheeks silvery with tearstains and eyes dripping with agony. He crossed to her as quickly as he dared, for the aura of the sick room was much like that of a funeral home-silent and still, a place where movement was abhorred and sounds forbidden.

"Michael," she scrubbed at her face with the palms of her hands, managing to only smear her cheeks with the salty drops even more. He sank down onto the bed next to her, careful not to put pressure on Laddie's legs, then drew her forward into a tight hug. The offer of comfort swept over Star like a warm wind and she relaxed into his arms, feeling the muscles tighten as he held her close to his body. She wanted nothing more than to sink into him forever and forget the troubles that plagued them, but forced herself to draw away after only a moment.

"How is he?" Michael asked, his voice a notch above a whisper. He needn't have asked, for his eyes told him the truth the instant they focused on Laddie's face. He shook his head and began to rub Star's back.

"Nothing's changed," Star admitted with a sad sigh. Her next words stuck in her throat, thick and scratchy, before she could force them out. "David wants to put pressure on that witch-D'ara. He thinks it will make her do better work. But… "

"But?" Michael prompted when she trailed off. Star shook her head then glanced back down at Laddie, letting her eyes take in the flush of red in his cheeks, the paleness of the rest of his face, the dark shadows growing beneath his eyes.

"But if there is nothing to be done, we can't change that," she whispered. "There might not be a cure. I don't know what we'll do if there's not, but there might not be."

"There has to be," Michael argued. He grabbed Star's shoulders and dragged her back around to face him. "Don't talk like that! You have to believe, Star, you know that. Miracles happen, we've seen them happen time and time again since Anna's been here. One will happen now too, I'm sure of it."

"Miracles seem to be wasted on those who don't deserve them," Star growled, her lips twisting into a dark expression that bared her brilliant teeth. Michael's hands dropped back to his sides and a frown knitted his brows together.

"Star," Michael began, remembering why he had come into the room in the first place. "I'm about to go hunt, and I wanted you to join me. You haven't left the cave in weeks, a quick hunt will be good for you."

"I can't leave him, Michael." Star turned to look at him once more, her eyes dark with pleading. "You know that. What if something happens when I'm not here?"

"Just a quick hunt though," Michael argued. "What could happen?"

"Everything!" Star's voice cracked and she realized how out of control she sounded. Two deep, slow breaths helped calm her before she could speak normally again. "I can't Michael, I'm sorry. I'll just drink from the bottle-I'm getting enough blood, I'll be fine."

"You and Anna are just the same," Michael sat back with a grunt, crossing his arms over his chest. His lower lip slid forward just enough for the expression to be called a pout, though Star's eyes flashed with too much fire to notice the attempt at persuading her.

"I am nothing like that murderous bitch!" Star snapped. "How can you compare us?"

"I only meant that neither of you are feeding," Michael explained before his mind wrapped around what Star had said. "Wait a minute. You don't still blame her for this, do you?"

"She shot him, Michael," Star frowned, turning back to run one hand down Laddie's face. "Of course I blame her. It's her fault-she did this."

"Come on, Star. You know she wasn't in control of her body," he argued. "Don't act like Dwayne."

"Dwayne's the only one with sense!" Star's dark hair snapped about her face in a flurry as she shook her head to emphasize the point. "Everyone else is walking around on eggshells around her when they should be punishing her-she should be dead by now!"

"Star!" Michael jerked himself off of the bed and away from his mate, aghast at the very suggestion. "She was under a spell. We can't kill her for that. It's not her fault!"

"If you think that, Michael," Star glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, pressing her hands together in her lap to hide the trembling running along her arms. "Then just go."

"Star… "

"Go!"

Michael went. His shoulders slumped forward and his head dropped, but he went, leaving Star with a perfect view of the tension tightening the muscles of his back until they practically hummed. He didn't stop when he reached the main room of the cave, but hurried up the rock steps and out into the night, and then on into the sky.

Star dropped her face back into her hands, not bothering to hold back the sobs that shook her body. The sound was hollow here in the sick room, as if the walls themselves were appalled by the noise and swallowed it up as fast as she could produce it.

*~*~*~*

The sharp clicking of the keys on Rilly's work computer was the only sound to fill the movie rental. She forced herself to concentrate on entering the bar codes on the last few returns, for the task had already taken her twice as long as it should have. She just couldn't keep her mind on the job and the numbers blurred together. More often than not the computer had buzzed at her, the signal that she'd entered something wrong, and she had had to go back and re-enter the entire number, slower on the second-or third or fourth-time, in hopes that she would eventually get through the dwindling pile so she could leave.

While the sun still filled the sky she hadn't been as rushed, but now that sunset was upon her, Rilly wanted nothing more than to enter the last set of numbers and look up to see Paul waiting at the door for her, as he was wont to do. Just that passing thought of Paul was enough to cause her finger to slip, and the computer blared at her once again.

Rilly dropped the video case back down on the glass counter with a loud sigh, and pressed one hand to her burning eyes. She didn't notice when Lucy turned to watch her, a small frown twisting the older woman's face. After a moment Rilly punched in the correct codes and added the number, then placed the movie on the stack of finished ones.

"Do you want me to put these back on the shelves?" she called out to Lucy, not bothering to turn around and see where her boss was. Instead she placed her elbows on top of the counter and rested her chin in her hands, her expectant gaze settling on the door. The bells that hung above it remained silent, and there was no sign of Paul in the darkness outside.

"No, I'll have Sam do it when he comes in looking for a ride home," Lucy told her, then made her way around the counter until she could look at Rilly's face. "Sweetie, is there something wrong?"

"What-what do you mean?" Rilly stammered. Her fluttering hands smacked against the pile of videos and sent them crashing against the glass and down onto the floor.

"I know you are spending time with the vampires," Lucy's voice dropped at the end and her gaze darted about the store, making sure that there were still no customers to overhear the dangerous word. "And they haven't been around lately. Michael hasn't come in to see me in quite a few weeks, and I was worried that something was wrong."

"It's nothing," Rilly murmured, pushing through the wooden door that allowed access to the area behind the counter. She knelt in front of the cash register, her back to the entrance, and began to scoop up the spilled videos.

The bell on the door jangled as it was pushed open. Rilly whirled around, expecting to see Paul's tall, lanky body. Her breath whooshed out in a disappointed sigh when her gaze fell upon a young woman instead. The customer moved across the room to the shelves in the far corner and Rilly returned to her clean up.

"Are you sure?" Lucy knelt down next to her worker, resting her hands lightly on her knees. "It's just not like them, to stay away for so long. I know things were strained between us because of what Max did, but I was hoping that we had put all that behind us."

Rilly glanced up at Lucy, then ducked her head without saying anything. Her dark hair tumbled in front of her eyes and Lucy sighed as she grabbed the last few video cases and stood.

"If you ever do need to talk, Rilly, I just want you to know that I'll listen. It's been lonely around the house now that Michael's gone." She smiled, the expression more wistful than happy, and Rilly felt a pang pierce her chest.

"It's Anna," she admitted, keeping her voice low so the lone customer couldn't hear her. "She had some problems awhile back… " Rilly's voice broke off with a strangled groan and it was many moments before she could speak again. Lucy waited patiently, resting her hands on the top of the counter, her attention focused on Rilly.

"She was sick, mentally, because of a witch's spell. During her illness, she shot Laddie-well, she was aiming at Dwayne, but Laddie got in the way."

"She wanted to shoot Dwayne?" Lucy's brown dipped into another frown. "That doesn't make sense. Even I know that they adore each other. It's obvious just by looking at them."

"Not anymore," Rilly sighed, then held up a hand to stem off the last of Lucy's questions. "Why she was shooting him is a long story that I'll leave for later. What it boils down to is that she shot Laddie and now he's really hurt-and no one is sure if he'll survive. And everything is falling apart."

"What do you mean?" Lucy leaned forward, a curious light filling her eyes. "You mean because Laddie isn't getting better?"

"Sort of," Rilly shoved her hair out of her face with both hands. "It's partly worry for him that is hurting everyone, and partly anger at Anna. Half the Pack wants her dead, it seems, and the other half is willing to forgive her. The strange thing is, Dwayne's the one who wants her dead the most."

"Dwayne?" Lucy shook her head, tapping the nails of one hand against the glass to emphasize her words. "I can't believe that."

"He won't say much about it," Rilly told her. "But he did say that she broke some law of the Pack. He says the punishment for that is death, and since David has forgiven her and won't kill her, Dwayne's very angry. Very very angry," she added ruefully.

Before Lucy could comment again, Marko pushed the doors open, causing the bells to jangle once more. Rilly turned to face the door almost on instinct, though the bright smile that lifted her lips faded when she realized that it wasn't Paul-again.

"I came to get you tonight," Marko explained when he saw her shoulders droop, "because Paul is trying to get Anna to come eat. She still won't leave, and Paul didn't want to give up on her in the middle of a discussion, so I came instead."

"Oh." Rilly nodded, trying to muster a welcoming smile for Marko's sake, but couldn't manage to. "Ok."

"Hello, Lucy," Marko smiled at her as he approached. "How are you this lovely evening?"

"Oh, I'm fine," she flushed, the color barely visible on her suntanned skin, but there none the less. "And yourself?"

"Could be better," the smile faded from his mouth for an instant before he jerked his lips back up. "Could be better."

"I can believe that," Lucy gathered into her arms the videos she and Rilly had restacked and headed for the shelves. "I hope things get better for you all."

"Thank you," Marko called after her, frowning as he turned towards Rilly. She finished gathering her things together and pushed the wooden door open once more.

"Are you ready?" he asked as she came to stand next to him. Rilly nodded without looking at him, for she had just noticed that the girl who had entered earlier was hovering near-and now that Rilly thought about it, she had been ever since she'd entered the store. Rilly turned to face her and caught a glimpse of brown eyes and light brown hair before the girl ducked back behind a row of shelves.

"Hey, are you ready?" Marko repeated his question and touched Rilly's arm, causing her to jump. He smiled at her, though questions filled his brown eyes. She flushed and ducked her head, casting a quick glance back at the girl, but she wasn't visible through the thick tangle of movies.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Rilly allowed Marko to lead her out of the door, breathing a sigh of relief when the bells marked their exit. Once they were outside she felt free to talk again, though the press of mortals around them was extreme. "How is Laddie? Have there been any changes?"

"Nope," Marko fell back to walk next to her as he explained what D'ara had claimed this last batch of potion had been and what it should have done, but didn't. Rilly nodded, making mental notes as he spoke.

At long last Rilly had decided to embrace her heritage, though not in a way her family would have ever approved of. She'd started reading D'ara's books and was picking up on the magic faster than she thought she would-because she needed to, for Laddie's sake, and because this was what she had been born to do.

She didn't notice when Marko's voice trailed off, didn't even notice when their pace began to slow until it was close to a crawl. She only paid attention to what he was doing when Marko whirled around, his glittering white teeth bared in a warning snarl. She turned as quickly as she could, but no danger met her wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked, tugging on Marko's arm without getting in his way if any sudden movements were needed. He remained tense beneath her hand for a long time, and she could feel her heartbeat echoing in her ears as she strained to hear whatever sound might have set him off.

When the tension drained from his body in one quick swoop she removed her hand from his arm and waited for him to explain what the danger had been. Marko continued to watch the darkness for another few of her slow breaths, then turned back to their path and began to walk again.

"I don't know what was wrong," he admitted. "I don't know if there was any real danger. We were being followed, though."

"By who?" Rilly glanced sideways at him out of the corner of her eye, hoping he didn't notice the way her hands shoved into the pockets of her jeans. The deep openings hid her tight fists, or at least that was her plan, for she didn't want him to know just how worried she was.

"Some girl," Marko frowned, glancing over his shoulder once more as if he could still feel her eyes upon them. "She had dark eyes, was a little shorter than me, and had light hair-though it might have been brown with lighter highlights. All I noticed was the glint of the light off of her hair."

"Sounds familiar," Rilly mumbled. She frowned, the expression tightening the planes of her face as she tried to place the description of the female. When it hit her, her eyebrows jerked up her forehead in surprise. "That sounds like the girl in the store." In a torrent of words Rilly explained about her conversation with Lucy, and the fact that the girl had lurked nearby, though neither of them had noticed it at the time.

"Wonderful," Marko groaned, wiping one hand down his face as if to fend off an approaching headache. "Just what we need. Something else to disturb the balance of the Pack."

"Do you think she wants to hurt us?" Rilly asked, glancing back into the darkness, for they'd left the Boardwalk's bright lights and screaming patrons.

"She didn't try to," he admitted. "She was just following us. I don't know, Rilly." He shrugged, then caught Rilly's arms, drawing her close to her body, though not as close as Paul would have held her-or so she liked to believe. "Let's go. I don't like being away from the others for so long when everyone's upset-and now this newcomer is poking around." He sighed as he took to the air and Rilly clutched at his shoulders. Her eyes squeezed shut, as they would remain for the rest of the trip, because she still wasn't used to flying, and didn't think she ever would be.

"I'll talk to David," Marko decided at last, dipping his head close to her ear so she could hear him over the rush of wind buffeting their bodies. "And if you see her around again, try to find out more about her, and tell me or David right away."

"I will," Rilly yelled out above the wind, then fell silent, focusing all her mental strength on not getting sick. Though it should have been exhilarating to fly above the world, all she could think about on each flight was the fact that the ground was far away from her body-and that if she should fall, it would be devastating.

~*~*~*~*~*

The mismatched colors of the Boardwalk swirled, flickering colored patches across the painted bodies of the youth crushing themselves into the open areas between rides and stores. Though winter in California was warmer than most places, the night air had only just become pleasant enough to bare bodies, and the local teenagers took advantage of the warmth of spring, nestled between the chill of winter and the heat from the mobs of summer tourists.

Desire wafted heavy through the air, offering a tantalizing bouquet of aromas to those who could smell beyond mortal capacity. Vampires found the spring rush for Boardwalk pleasure to be an open smorgasbord after the small winter fast.

Most vampires, that is. Dwayne traipsed the length of the Boardwalk slowly, keeping to the shadows that spilled out under the curving lengths of rail that made up the Big Dipper or that curled from the ground up, stealing onto the concrete of the Boardwalk from the darkness of the ocean.

A hundred meals had presented themselves to him in so many ways over the deepening of night. Their bodies had pressed close to him, either out of a mistaken movement or out of the hypnotic power behind his darkness.

Each time he had turned away, his lips twisting though he held back the snarl that lifted them. His teeth glinted white in the darkness, but remained human, his fangs safely tucked away until it was time to feed.

The Carousel, haven to him for longer than he could remember, offered him the sacrifice of the night. It had long been the preferred hunting grounds for him, because something in the music, in the turn of lights, and in the rise and fall of the painted horses seemed to call out to him, soothing his frazzled thoughts. This time it provided the perfect meal he'd been hunting for. His eyes locked onto her body the moment his heavy boots hit the metal floor of the ride, entering far ahead of the mortals who waited in line behind him.

She faced away from him, perched on the back of one of the gilded ponies, her long golden hair falling forward over her shoulders, though enough fell down her back to still reach mid-waist. She arched forward to press her chest into the teenager riding in front of her and the movement was almost perfect, tight and controlled, simmering with danger and invitations to play.

He made his way around the Carousel, moving against the motion, though that upset many of the humans riding it. All it took was one short glare from his dark eyes and something in their depths stopped the complaints.

The ride was beginning its final turn when he faced the girl he was now hunting. She tossed her head and again the movement was almost right, the tight curls falling just so over her face. His gaze met hers as she slid from the horse and his mind winced when he saw the bright green eyes. Still he jerked his head up in the silent greeting that females her age took for granted and she started for him, ignoring the startled questions from her partner.

"Hi," she murmured when she was close enough that he could hear her. She kept walking, stepping around him and towards the exit of the ride, glancing back once as if she expected him to follow her. She was not mistaken. "I'm Julie."

"Hi."

"You don't talk much, do you?" Julie grinned at him and hopped off of the Carousel, threading her way through the crowd until she emerged onto the sidewalk in front of the street. Cars were at a standstill as they waited to be let into the parking lot, bumper-to-bumper metal, engines humming, music throbbing and vibrating Dwayne's head.

"Not usually," he touched her shoulder and motioned towards the other end of the Boardwalk, where the lesser-used entrance to Neptune's Kingdom offered more breathing room. "Do you?"

"All the time," she chirped, laughing up at him as she bounced down the sidewalk, past the crowds of high-school students trying to forget the latest test or paper and emerge themselves in the beach bum culture their parents frowned upon. "People often tell me I need to shut up."

"Do you?" Dwayne caught her elbow when she started to turn into the Boardwalk again and guided her farther down the sidewalk until thick wooden stairs let them escape down onto the beach.

"Not usually," Julie twitched her arm and he found his hand falling back to his side, until she caught it in hers, twisting their fingers together even as she shoved her hair out of her face with her free hand. "I just have things to say and I don't believe in holding them back. I bet you bottle everything up instead of talking through problems, don't you?"

Dwayne opened his mouth to deny the accusation, then stopped himself. What did it matter if she was allowed a nugget or two of truth? What would she do with the information once he was done with her?

"You're right," he admitted, not stopping their slow walk until the waves threatened to spill over his feet. "I don't like to talk about how I feel."

"A man of action then," she all but purred, twisting around him until her back was to the ocean. Her hand slid from his and then both of hers brushed against his hips before lifting higher, trailing her nails along his chest, dipping beneath the leather jacket to hit bare skin. "You're the one who is right; actions are much, much better than words."

The light from a dying bonfire nearby caught her eyes, highlighting the greenness of them and Dwayne groaned, ducking his head so that his hair spilled forward into his face. Julie lifted her body, her lips parted to accept the kiss she expected.

"Close your eyes," he muttered, his hands convulsing on her shoulders. She did so without questioning his motives, instead flicking her tongue along her lips to entice his attention there.

Dwayne jerked her forward, cradling her almost gently against his body. She lifted her head once more and he allowed one hand to caress her cheek, then higher, drawing a handful of her curls forward. He pressed his face into them for a long moment, breathing in as deep as his non-mortal body could, though the fragrance was far from what he wanted. His mind could supply the smell that should be there.

Julie whimpered, deep in her throat, an almost pained sound, for the tension of waiting was proving too much. Her hands grasped at Dwayne's arms, trying to pull him closer to her body, and if he didn't do something in the next moment, she was going to take matters into her own hands.

She needn't have worried, for Dwayne moved then, jerking her head to one side and shoving his fangs into her skin with far more force than was necessary. One hand clamped down over her mouth to muffle the screams tearing from her throat. He jerked backwards, tearing her skin and sending drops of her blood splattering around his face, just as her hair tumbled over his skin. He sank into her again, freeing the warmth of her blood into his mouth, his animalistic cries hidden beneath the flow of liquid.

Julie's body collapsed in onto him as her life skittered down his throat, each labored heartbeat painful to listen to. Dwayne jerked back, his mouth stained with her blood, her hair filling his vision.

"Anna," he groaned, doubling over as the blood flooded into his stomach, filling what had been empty for far too long. The corpse slid down his legs to land on the sand with a near silent thud, but he was far too caught up in the images burning behind his eyes.

He forced away the emotions as he had so many others in this time of pain. He could have none of these feelings for her, for she was a traitor and it was only a matter of time until she found death-and if not at David's hands, then at his own, for she would pay for her betrayals.

Dwayne grabbed the dead body by its hair and flung it into what was left of the bonfire. The embers flared from the rush of wind the movement had brought. He glanced around, searching for something to build up the fire with, but he needn't have bothered. One tiny flicker at a time the flames built up, each one lapping at the dead body in their midst until it was consumed. Dwayne had to move back, for the heat had grown to an unbearable temperature, threatening to light him on fire even from the distant spot from which he observed it.

The body's blonde hair seemed to lift as it shifted, skin convulsing from the heat. For one instant he could have sworn it rose up towards the sky, only to collapse in on itself, a bundle of flaming skin reminiscent to what he had once believed hell to be.

The aptness of the situation was not lost on him. Dwayne cast one more look at the funeral pyre before lifting into the air. His tongue crept along his lips, drawing inside the final drops of her blood, his lips twisting with disgust for it wasn't the taste he desired.

*~*~*~*

Paul muffled his frustrated groan behind one hand, though he knew Anna would still be able to hear it. She ignored the sound, not even bothering to look up from the small, leather bound book. The only noise to fill the room was the faint scratch of the blue pen as she filled page after page with her tiny, neat handwriting. Even as close as he was to her, Paul could make out none of the words, for she knew to tilt the book just so to keep others from reading it.

"Anna, you have to go hunt. You haven't been eating near enough, and the bottle just isn't cutting it. It's second-rate blood at best, blood that is stored away for use. You need fresh blood."

"I'm fine," Anna murmured, not lifting her head from her writing. Paul groaned again, not muffling it this time and whirled in a fast circle as he tried to find an outlet for his anger.

"You're not fine," he argued. "You're paler than ever, you don't even move much any more, and I'm worried about you!"

"Paul," Anna lifted her head at long last, allowing him to capture her blue eyes. "I'll be fine. I am fine. I've just been tired lately, that's why I'm pale. Sleep has been-hard."

"Sleep has nothing to do with it," he reminded her, sinking down to sit next to her on the couch. "You know better than that. The paleness, being tired-it's all because you aren't eating right. All you do is sit in here and write that." One hand jerked towards the book she still held between her slender fingers and on towards the pile of them that rested on the table at the other end of the couch. "What are you writing, anyway?"

"Never mind," Anna closed the book in her hands with care, leaving the pen inside to mark her place, then set it with the others before she turned back to Paul. "You shouldn't worry about me so much. Go worry about Laddie, he needs it more than I."

"I'm worried about him too," Paul admitted. "But he has lots of people taking care of him-and you've locked yourself away from everyone. Anna, who is going to take care of you?"

"I-I don't need anyone to," Anna breathed, turning her face away at the last moment. Her shoulders slumped forward, and her back curved towards the couch, the subtle signs so obvious to Paul.

"You won't come out to hunt with me?" Paul asked again, hoping this time her answer would change. He still had his doubts, though, and he pressed one hand to his own throat as he waited for her to speak.

"I don't think so," Anna replied, her voice muffled by the hair hanging in front of her face. "Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow-maybe."

"You have to eat," Paul tried one last attempt at getting through to her. "And something besides what's in those bottles." With a sharp laugh he warded off the reply he knew was coming. "So drink this."

The scent of fresh blood swept over Anna's senses and she jerked around, bringing her head up to stare at Paul, surprise and hunger warring within the depths of her eyes. He said nothing, only tilted his head to one side, revealing the bloody gouges his sharp nails had left in his neck.

"Paul," she gritted her teeth, the words coming in guttural bursts from her throat. "Don't do this. Go, now. Go!" He remained still, the blood trickling down his pale throat and Anna could resist the fresh blood no longer.

She fell upon him with an animalistic snarl, fangs dipping into his body with much more care than her movements would have attested to. He groaned when the warm suction began and her tongue flicked over his skin, drawing another sound from him. Paul's hands convulsed on his lap as her throat worked, drawing his blood out in short, quick gulps that left his skin on fire and his veins tingling from the movement.

Anna drew away from him before any damage could be done; she'd barely taken enough to sustain her throughout the night, but Paul knew he could push his luck no farther. He turned to face her in time to see the tip of her tongue sweep the blood from her lips.

"Feel better?" he asked, pressing the fingers of one hand to the wound without thinking about it. Anna nodded, forcing her eyes away from the blood-covered area and up to his face.

Silence fell over the room as Paul waited for her to speak. Moment by moment passed without her lips even opening, and Paul realized that again this was a lost cause. He forced a soft sigh through his open mouth, then stood, making his way towards the door. He needed to hunt more now than he had before, after giving his blood to Anna, though he would never tell her that.

"Things are going to be ok," Paul stopped at the door and half turned to look back at her. "Laddie's is going to get better and things will be ok. They will." His words, so optimistic and cheerful, did nothing to convince her that the things they prophesied would come to pass-and did nothing to comfort him.

Paul started out the door, only to stop and glance back at her once more. "Dwayne doesn't hate you, not really. He's just-confused-right now, but he doesn't hate you. That much love can't change to hate so quickly."

Anna's stoic expression crumpled like paper around the edges and she doubled over just enough that the movement was visible, both hands pressed to her stomach before she could gain control of her reactions again. Paul started to cross the room to her, but she shook her head, sending a cloud of blonde curls dancing about her face.

"Just go, Paul, please," Anna's smile tempered the harsh words. When he hesitated, she forced the smile to brighten, melting some of the plastic away from the expression. "I just feel like being alone right now, really. I'll be ok. Thank you for the blood."

Paul nodded and turned again, moving towards the door, his steps dragging as he waited for her to call him back. She didn't, and he had stepped out into the hallway before she even spoke again.

"Don't try to fool yourself, Paul," Anna called after him just loud enough for him to hear. His steps hesitated as she continued to speak. "Dwayne might not hate me-but there are far worse things than being hated."

Paul's shoulders slumped forward as he continued down the hall, trying to drive the echoing tone of her words out of his head. The defeat her sentence had captured, the unrelenting agony her speaking belied-he had to find a way to help her. He just had to.

*~*~*~*

Shauna sank down into the soft armchair in the corner of Laddie's sick room. Unlike humans in a hospital, the vampires preferred comfortable places to rest while they visited their fallen comrade. She shifted around until she was comfortable, legs draped over one of the chair's arms, then turned to look at Star, who still sat on the bed next to Laddie, one hand resting on his arm.

"You were right," Star continued their conversation with a sad laugh. "Michael did take Anna's side. I thought you were crazy when you told me he would-but you were right."

"What happened, sweetie?" Shauna sat forward as best she could without toppling from her precarious position, forcing her face into gentle, concerned lines. Star accepted the offered comfort,never doubting her sincerity.

"He came in to check on me and we fought over Anna," Star told her. "He still claims that this isn't her fault because she was under that spell. But spell or no, she hurt Laddie and he has still taken her side!"

"How can Michael act like that?" Shauna shook her head as she settled back into the chair. "After all, he knows how much you love the little guy. Anna hurt him; of course you're going to be mad at her. I can't believe he'd do this to you."

"I know!" Star wailed, then clamped one hand to her mouth and glanced down at Laddie for fear that she'd disturbed him. He didn't move, of course, and she let out a relieved sigh before she realized how horrible that action was. "I don't know why he forgave her."

Silence followed Star's words, but Shauna made no move to fill it. If she'd learned anything over the past months from living with the vampires, it was that they would speak of their own accord, if given enough time-excepting maybe David, who continued to keep his cards close to his body. Sure enough, once she had time to gather her thoughts, Star began to speak again.

"I think maybe it's because Michael is the one who drained her," she admitted. "Anna, I mean. It's really his fault that she ever became a vampire, though it was their blood she drank. If he hadn't tried to kill her, all of this might not have happened. Maybe he feels responsible for her because of that. I've always wondered."

"You don't know she wouldn't have become a vampire anyway," Shauna argued, forcing herself to remain calm and sensible. "Just look at how she was with Dwayne. He wouldn't have let her remain human for long, you know that. This could have still happened."

"I know," Star told her, one hand rubbing over her skirt in a nervous gesture. "But Michael-you know how the guys are. They like to believe what they do is the difference between how things are and how they would be. Like to think that they have a hand in everything. He probably does feel responsible for her."

Shauna parted her lips as if to refute this latest statement, then thought of better of it again. She waited, leaning forward to offer more attention to Star, a move that had worked in the past-and would work again now.

"Who cares if he feels responsible for her!" Star exploded, pushing the understanding from her eyes. "He knows Pack law. She hurt one of us, and that's the first law of Pack, harm not your own. Besides that, he knows what Laddie means to me-how much I care for him. He should be supporting me in this, not that murderer."

"You're right," Shauna agreed easily, sliding out of the chair and crossing to sit next to Star on the bed, careful not to put pressure on any part of Laddie's body. She placed one hand on Star's arm, and the older vampire nodded.

"I know I am. He's in the wrong here by forgiving her, not me."

"You know," Shauna continued, forcing her eyebrows to rise in an attempt to look surprised. "I think it's pretty clear that David has forgiven Anna too… ." She let her words trail off to add to the confusion and suspense of her sentence.

Star glanced about with wary eyes as if she was afraid that David might be lurking in a corner just waiting to pounce on her if she said the wrong thing. When she was certain that no one was around to hear, she leaned forward, dropping her voice into a thick whisper.

"David has always been-irrational when it comes to Anna," she admitted. "From the very beginning he almost destroyed the Pack while trying to claim her-and when Dwayne beat him to it, I thought they would kill each other. I think-I think that he's been blinded by how much he wants her."

"But he leads the Pack," Shauna's voice matched Star's and she too leaned forward until her forehead almost brushed against the other vampire's. "Doesn't that mean that he should enforce the law no matter how he feels about the perpetrator?"

"Of course," Star hurried to say, then shrugged, the energy draining out of her. "But it doesn't matter. David always did make his own rules, and ever since Anna showed up-well, nothing as trivial as Pack Law is going to put a damper on his attempts to get her."

Something on Shauna's face must have given away her internal thoughts, for Star sat up with a gasp. Shauna jerked herself upright, forcing her expression into a calm one, but it was too late. She mentally berated herself for allowing anyone to see what she was thinking-until Star spoke and Shauna realized that she'd taken the look the wrong way.

"Oh, Shauna, I'm so sorry," Star hurried to placate her new friend. "I didn't mean-I know how you feel about David. I didn't mean to say that he wants your sister more-oh I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, Star," Shauna smiled at her, the brightness behind the expression not forced in the slightest. Relief flooded her body and she rose to her feet. "In fact, why don't I go get a bottle of blood, and we'll seal this forgiveness over a drink?"

"That sounds-good," Star said, her own smile lifting the corners of her mouth. "I haven't eaten yet, so actually that sounds great."

"Good, I'll be right back." Shauna hurried through the doorway before her expression could give away the truth. A pleased grin jerked her lips up and she coughed to drive it away. Things were working faster than she had dared to hope.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam blinked awake, not wanting to open his eyes to face the bright sunlight that should have been flooding into his room. He shivered and drew the blanket higher about his body, dragging a deep breath down his throat and reveling in the fresh air.

Wait.

Fresh air? Sam's eyes snapped open, but a murky darkness replaced the cheerful light he expected. He glanced sideways at the window and found it covered by a thick blanket, the bottom shifting as a breeze came dancing through the open glass, lifting the ends of it playfully.

"What?" Sam mumbled the word and sat up, the sheet and blanket sliding down his bare chest, revealing his pale skin and developing muscles. After spending so much time with the Frogs, working on their attack skills, he was finally beginning to bulk up, much like Michael had at his age.

Sam slid his legs out from under his covers and planted his feet firmly on the cool floor. As he stood and headed for his closet, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes with the backs of his fists.

He stumbled over something large and thick at the foot of his bed, the mistake sending him into his closet door with a loud crash. Sam groaned from the pain and staggered backwards, almost tripping over the thing again.

When he was able to turn and look at what was on his floor, a strangled sound echoed in his throat. Michael lay there, curled into a small ball-or as small a ball as his tall body could become. The open but blanket-covered window made sense now. Sam dropped to his knees at Michael's side and touched his shoulder, just a faint brush of his fingers, because he was almost afraid of what would happen to someone waking up a sleeping vampire.

Michael didn't stir and Sam touched him again, this one a hard jab. The vampire rolled away from the pressure with a low groan but Sam followed him, almost desperate to wake his brother up now. Something must be wrong with him if he could ignore him, Sam decided.

"Let me sleep," Michael muttered, curling up the other way and presenting Sam with his back. Sam pushed him hard this time, a smack of his open palm, which rolled Michael all the way over to his other side. He lifted his eyelids at long last, revealing his dark, blood shot eyes, and Sam wanted to cheer from relief.

"You ok, Michael?" he asked, bending over his brother, worry filling his expression. Michael blinked up at him as if the question had made no sense, then nodded, already falling back asleep.

"I'm fine," he batted at Sam's hand when he tried to push his shoulder again. "Go away and let me sleep." Sam was convinced at last that his brother was going to be all right, and stood, rushing through his morning preparations, for the arrival of his brother had set him quite a bit behind schedule.

Sam darted down the stairs, each wooden step creaking beneath his pounding footsteps. Lucy glanced up from the bookkeeping she was going over on the kitchen table, then stood, grabbing the two pieces of toast that had been waiting for Sam's arrival. She handed them to him as he raced past her towards the front door.

"Sam, do me a favor?" Lucy asked as she settled into the driver's seat of her truck. Sam clicked his seatbelt into place before looking at her, shoving the toast into his mouth as he spoke.

"Sure, mom, what?" he mumbled around the mouthful of bread and butter. Lucy made a face and began to back the truck around until she could head down the driveway, being careful not to hit Nanook.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," she admonished him, then continued with her favor. "Would you keep an eye out for Michael?"

Sam choked on the thick piece of toast he had just tried to swallow without chewing and Lucy leaned over to smack his back with one hand, the other clutching the large steering wheel.

"Why, mom? What's going on?" Sam gasped out when he could breathe again. He sucked long, cool droughts of air down his throat, watching his mother's expressions out of the corner of his eye. If this had anything to do with why Michael was camped out in his room-he waited for an answer.

"I don't know," Lucy returned both hands to the steering wheel and stared out at the road before her, a perplexed frown wiping the smile from her face. "I was just talking to Rilly yesterday, and she said some things that bothered me."

"Oh yeah?" Sam tossed the last bite of crust out the partially opened window and shifted in his seat as much as the seat belt would let him, giving his mother his full attention. "What did she say?"

Lucy relayed the information to him as fast as she could while still making sense. Sam nodded, asking the appropriate questions at all the appropriate times, but nothing that she said explained why Michael was in his room-and without Star even, unusual in itself.

"I'll watch for him," Sam promised his mother as they pulled up in front of his school. He grabbed his backpack and hopped out, slamming the door behind him. Lucy winced when metal scraped against metal, but had given up on trying to convince him to go easy on the truck. "Don't worry about Michael, mom, I'll make sure you get to talk to him soon."

"Thanks, Sammy," Lucy called after him, but he was gone, swallowed up by the other teenagers streaming into Santa Carla High. She pulled the truck away from the curb after a quick glance back at traffic, the frown still touching the corners of her face. "But how can I not worry about Michael? He's still my son."

Sam pushed past a large group of girls without one apology, something he wouldn't have done on a normal day, but this was far from normal. Just as he entered the hallway his locker was on, the bell rang and he had to run for his classroom, reminding himself to find Edgar and Alan later to tell them about the latest situation.

*~*~*~*

Victoria shrieked as one of the larger waves crashed over her, tumbling her end over end through the surf and up onto the beach. The werewolf spat out a mouthful of sea and flipped to her feet, her dark hair plastered to her face in long strings.

Adam's laughed filled her ears even from where he sat farther up the beach, out of reach of high tide, a small sand castle a testament to how long he'd spent sitting there and watching her play.

She raced forward again, chasing the wave as it retreated across the sand, leaving tiny shells and strings of seaweed behind, green slimy things that twisted about her toes and caused her to squeal.

"Come here, Vic," Adam called out. He half expected her to ignore him, for she'd spent so little time in the ocean in the recent past, but she hurried over, flinging herself down onto his lap, soaking his jeans in the process. He growled up at her, his playfulness reflected in his eyes and she pressed her lips to his, sharing the salt remaining from her dip in the water.

"What did you want?" Victoria slid to one side, digging her toes into the sand. Bits of seaweed and shells clung to her legs and she wiped at them haphazardly, sending showers of sand down to the ground.

"Just wanted to talk about Anna," Adam caught one wet strand of hair and wrapped it around his finger, holding it there for a long moment so it would curl when he released it. "And Dwayne. And what we're going to do about the situation."

"Good topic," Victoria drew her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees, turning her head to meet Adam's gaze, her eyes squinting against the brightness of the sun. "Tough one though. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Adam admitted, still tugging gently on the strand of hair. "But we need to stand up for Anna in this. She stood up for us back in the beginning, and I'm not going to forget that."

"Good reason," Victoria let herself fall sideways against him until her head rested on his shoulder. When she looked up at him, his head cast a shadow over her, blocking the sun from her weary eyes. "But I've got one better."

"What's that, sweetheart?" Adam ducked his head down to press a quick kiss to her hair, breathing in deeply as he did so. His sense were assailed with the smell of the ocean and beneath it a muskier scent that screamed werewolf and Victoria all at the same time.

"She's our friend, Adam," Victoria smiled up at him to soften the seriousness of her words. "And that's a much better reason to support her than because we owe her one." He opened his mouth as if to dispute her words and she held up one hand. "I know that's not what you meant, but that's what it would look like."

"You're right," Adam agreed once he had twisted the idea around in his head. "She is our friend now, isn't she?"

"I'm worried about her," Victoria admitted. "Dwayne's being a real asshole and I'm worried she's not going to be able to handle it. I know I couldn't if you did that to me."

"She's not handling it as it is," Adam reminded her. Victoria continued to look up at him, her shimmering green eyes full of hope. "And you want me to talk to him about it, don't you?" Victoria nodded then turned her head until she could press a faint kiss to his shoulder. He sighed and flopped backward onto the sand, dragging her up to lie along his hard body.

"All right, all right, you win!" He laughed and ran the fingers of one hand through her hair, being careful to pull out each snarl with as little tugging as possible. "I'll think about talking to him."

"Good boy," Victoria purred, nuzzling against his chest. His skin held more warmth than the sand had, no matter that the sand was more exposed to the sun, and she pressed closer to him as if she would crawl inside and wrap his flesh about her to fend off the problems of the real world.

"Only if you'll keep an eye on Shauna," Adam's voice rumbled in his chest beneath Victoria's ear, almost distracting her from his words. "Something about her just doesn't-smell right. I don't trust her, no matter what the others say."

"I will," Victoria sat up, shaking the last drops of water out of her now combed hair. The sun glinted off of the dark strands, bringing out the faint but still present highlights and Adam groaned, overwhelmed by the beauty of his mate. His hands lifted, catching her shoulders in their gentle grasp, then dragged her back down against him until he could reach her lips.

"We'd better go in and sleep if we're going to deal with vampires tonight," Victoria murmured when he let her lift her mouth to drag in a drought of fresh air. He rolled to his feet in one smooth movement, setting her down on the ground as he did so. Victoria started up the path towards the cave, not stopping until he caught her hand and turned her back around, looking up at her where she stood a few steps above him.

"I love you, lobo," Adam pressed her hand to his mouth, the kiss fainter than any he had given before, but all the more aching for it. Victoria blinked, her lashes beating upon her cheeks like a butterfly's wings before she could be sure the tears wouldn't fall.

"And I love you, fur face."

Adam growled up at her and charged up the stairs, sending Victoria dancing higher, her laughter trailing behind as they raced for the cave. He caught her just outside the entrance and jerked her back into his arms, swinging her in a wide circle as they spilled into the room and stumbled down the stairs, even the jerky movements more fluid than any a human could muster.

Marko's soft cough dragged their attention back to the present and Adam set Victoria down again. Both werewolves drew in deep breaths to calm themselves as they waited to hear what had put such a serious expression on the vampire's face.

*~*~*~*

Marko allowed the werewolves a moment to calm down after their physical fun, for it gave himself time to remember just why he was sitting here, fighting his need for sleep, so he could talk to them.

Not that he had been able to sleep before he chose to remain awake. He'd hung upside down in the sleeping room, one of the few who used it now, for many hours, but his brain had been too full of thoughts to let him succumb to the darkness.

Once he'd finally given up on sleep, at least until he'd given some sort of order to his thoughts, he'd settled on one of the rocks that jutted out beneath where he hung and let his mind work, tracing each line of thought through the twisting, treacherous paths it chose.

In the end he'd come to one conclusion. No one else in the cave had been able to fix the chasms gaping between certain members, and he could stand the growing distances no longer. Marko couldn't just sit idly by while his family tore themselves apart.

He knew he couldn't help Laddie, at least no more than he already was when he offered up his intimidation to that witch in order to make her work more efficiently. Though he would have killed to be able to help Laddie more, there seemed to be nothing he could do in that corner, so he turned to the next problem facing his Pack.

Anna still wasn't hunting, he knew that much from talking to Paul. Though he himself hadn't seen her for the past few days, because he'd been almost nervous every time he approached the hallway leading back to her secluded room, he did miss her company.

What's more he missed how she would be able to calm Dwayne's worry, if the anger and feelings of betrayal stretching between them could ever be healed. He decided that would be his first big project-to heal the rift between his best friend and the woman he loved.

However, one more problem loomed up before he could tackle that. Anna would have to help him, both physically and mentally, to get through to Dwayne, and she was in no shape to do that. So the first step would be to get her healthy again, and he knew of only one way to do that. She needed better blood than the bottled crap she was surviving on.

Marko had no problem with using the bottles for ceremony, as they had with Michael, or for a snack to while away the hours before sunset, as he himself had done many a time. But to survive off of the bottled blood-it would have been almost impossible for the weakest vampire, and Anna was far from weak.

Paul couldn't afford to give her the amount of blood it would take to survive each night, for feeding her was cutting into his prime hunting hours, meaning that Paul himself wasn't getting the amount of blood he needed to survive, and Marko doubted that she would accept the offer from any of the other vampires-excepting Dwayne, and that was where the problem came into play in the first place.

Anna needed a source of powerful blood, a source that could either be drained, or that could stand to give many pints at a time. Since she continued to refuse to leave the cave to hunt, and Marko didn't want to get into an actual physical battle with her, there seemed to be only one choice left.

"Anna's not hunting," Marko broke the stillness surrounding himself and the werewolves. Both looked startled before they realized he was skipping any pleasantries and getting right down to business.

"I know," Adam said, his words supported by Victoria's emphatic nodding. Marko hopped off of the back of the couch and walked towards them, each step chosen with care to match his words.

"She needs powerful blood to keep her strong," he continued. "Either that or a lot of human blood-and she's getting neither when she doesn't hunt. What little blood she is taking in now just isn't enough."

"We know that," Victoria shoved the still-damp tendrils of dark hair out of her face. "But what can we do about that?"

"I know this is a lot to ask," Marko pressed on, coming to a stop before the two animals. "But would you please consider letting Anna feed from you? Lycanthrope blood is far stronger than humans, and because you heal so much faster, you can stand to give her enough blood to survive."

Adam and Victoria exchanged a quick look, their expressions almost amusing in how closely they matched. Before the wolves could turn back to him and affirm or deny the suggestion, Marko spoke again.

"There is a good chance that this will have complications," he admitted, not wanting to cause them to refuse the request, but not wanting them to go into the situation without having all the information. "Vampires can form bonds with those who take their blood, and if she is becoming a Master Vampire herself-well, there is no proof of that. But there might be complications to this."

Adam looked to Victoria once more, waiting until she nodded her head once, then answered for both of them. "We will do it. Helping Anna is worth the risk of the complications. Anna will have a ready-made dinner tomorrow night, no questions asked."

"Thank you," Marko's relieved sigh swept passed his lips even before Adam had finished speaking. "Thank you so much, wolf." Before he could say anything more a wide yawn split his face and Adam waved him away with one large hand.

"Go, fang, sleep. You should have been unconscious hours ago." Marko nodded and thanked them once more before hurrying off to his own private room, where he curled up on the four-poster bed instead of attaching himself to the ceiling. "I'm worried, Adam," Victoria whispered as she crawled into bed next to him. He drew her closer to him and placed her head against his shoulder, one hand combing through her hair to soothe her.

"Why?"

"Something Marko said reminded me of one of the first warnings I ever received after becoming a werewolf," she explained even as her eyes drifted closed. "I was told to stay away from Master Vampires, and especially to not let them drink from me, because if they had the power to Call wolves, and they had my blood-they could control me."

"Marko said he's not sure if she is going to be a Master," Adam pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head before he settled back himself, letting his eyelids droop over his bright eyes. "And even if she is, and even if wolves are her animal, do you really think Anna would control us?"

Victoria took so long to answer that Adam began to time her breaths in his head, hoping that she had fallen asleep. He was disappointed when she spoke again, though her words were enough to remedy that.

"You're right," she muttered, shifting sideways against his warmth. "She'd never do something like that to us. She's our friend."

"That she is, my love," Adam bit back his yawn before it escape. "Anna wouldn't control us-she's not like that. Not like David." His eyes were closed before the thought fully formed inside his own head and sleep took over, dropping a thick veil over his mind.

But the ability to Call an animal is a great power indeed, an absolute power even-and as they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

*~*~*~*

When the final bell clanged and freed the students of Santa Carla High out into the warm afternoon air, Sam searched for Edgar and Alan at their lockers, to no avail. The Frog brothers seemed to be nowhere around, and Sam realized he hadn't seen them in school all day.

He hurried off towards the Boardwalk, meaning to stop at the Comic Book Store their family ran, but instead found himself hesitating outside of his mother's movie rental. Inside he could see Rilly leaning against the glass counter, her eyes locked on the clock hanging on the wall.

The bells hanging over the door jangled his entrance and Rilly jerked around, her expression fading when she realized it was still daylight out. She didn't bother to muster a smile for the boy walking towards her, though she didn't turn away.

"Rilly," Sam asked when he could lean against the counter, his gaze focused on her face. "Why did Michael come home last night?" While the sun was up, he knew he'd get no answer from his brother, and he wanted to have more of an idea of what was going on before he confronted him, in hopes that he could help better.

Sam's question cleared the blank expression from Rilly's face, leaving her eyebrows lifted high on her forehead and her lips parted in a perfect `o'. "I didn't know he went home," she admitted. "I thought he was back with Laddie and Star in the sick room." Her surprised faded and she started to explain to the mortal just what had happened with Laddie, but he stopped her after only a few words.

"I know what happened to the little one," Sam told her. "Mom already told me what you explained yesterday. The strange thing is, Star wasn't with Michael. He came alone, and that never happens."

"I don't know," Rilly shrugged, her dark hair shifting with the movement. "The only thing I can even think of is that Star still hasn't forgiven Anna and it's possible that Michael has. That's been a big problem lately."

"What has?" Sam asked, leaning forward as much as he could with the counter pressed against his upper stomach. Rilly stepped back, not quite comfortable around the non-vampire members of this group of friends she had so recently acquired, but proceeded to answer him anyway.

"Anna's the one who shot Laddie," her voice was matter-of-fact, something that few heard when one of the Pack discussed either of the vampires these days. "And the Pack has some law about not hurting your own. So by all rights Anna should be punished-but David forgave her. Because she's not getting what some of them believe she deserves, there has been some splits in loyalty and what not. And Star was one of the ones who wanted her to be punished-and if Michael has forgiven her, they could have fought over that. Everyone else is."

"That would explain why he came in without waking anyone," Sam murmured, more to himself than to her. He shook his head and gathered his multi-colored jacket about him, though it was almost too warm in the daylight for the fabric. "Thanks, Rilly. You've really helped."

"Any time, kid," she called after him as he turned and hurried back out through the door, causing the bells to bounce and clang once more. She stepped forward and rested one elbow on the glass counter top again, her gaze seeking out the clock. Still hours before sunset, she realized, and an exasperated sigh forced her lips open.

*~*~*~*

Marko escaped the cave the moment the sun set, though he wasn't on Rilly-duty tonight, much to his relief. He hated to see the disappointment paint itself across her face when he and not Paul walked into the store to retrieve her. He'd mentioned to Paul that he should pick her up himself, but what with Paul's worry about Anna and the confusion of the entire Pack over Laddie's life and death, he couldn't be sure that the other vampire had even paid attention to his request.

It didn't matter though, not tonight, because for once Marko was free from the others. He ignored the tempting sky and instead took his bike, which was the more time consuming mode of transportation, but tonight that was a benefit. The more time he had to himself to sort out what his next step would be, the better off his plan would turn out.

Marko bypassed the Boardwalk for the quieter, though emptier, hunting grounds farther up the beach, where the million dollar beach homes, with their gingerbread trim and multiple stories, offered an enticing view of the ocean. Behind their immaculate lawns, the dark streets had at times offered up tasty meals, humans brimming full of wine and champaign, and it was here that Marko chose to hunt.

The only difficult part of hunting away from the main grounds was that the prey was far less available. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing though, for it forced him to concentrate fully on searching out a human and then on the hunt, for the timing had to be perfect. Too near the departure point and someone might hear. Too near their destination and they might escape, with the help of a bit of luck.

The darkness pressed down upon him as he perched in the upmost branches of a tree, his gaze focused on the street below. No streetlights marred the perfect night in this back area of the neighborhood, making it prime hunting grounds. He saw no movement in the darkness, though a faint beating warned him that somewhere a human stood, his heartbeat the only thing to give him away. Though Marko strained, he couldn't see where the sound was coming from, and finally decided that it had to be an echo from an enclosed back porch or an open window from one of the houses behind him.

Minutes seemed to tick by like hours, though Marko timed himself more in the rumbling of his stomach than by any clock. The moon rose before him, half-full and glittering with bright whiteness, and he began to think he'd have to give up and return to the Boardwalk and to easier prey. His pride kept him frozen in his place, for giving up now would be an insult to his ability to survive.

For once his pride was a good thing, for at the end of the street he could just make out a dark figure turning onto the street. He narrowed his eyes and she sprang into bright relief, a young woman with brown hair. The moonlight caught the faintest hint of highlights and he frowned, struck by how familiar she looked, but it mattered not, for dinner was on its way at long last.

He held himself back, waiting until she came nearer to pounce. She was only yards away, though still not close enough. His hands gripped the branch before him, nails gouging into the wood. He shifted, his fangs dropping to scrape across his lower lip, the faint drops of blood they produced merely wetting his appetite for human blood.

A mere breath before he would have left the tree, careening towards his prey, someone exploded out of the shadows and slammed into the girl, taking her into the street. The crunch when her back hit the asphalt was audible and Marko didn't restrain his frustrated growl.

The attacker was thrown into the air, lifted from the ground when the girl slammed her feet against his stomach and kicked up as hard as she could. The blow didn't faze the man much, but it gave her time to clamber back to her feet.

The man approached her slower this time, though the girl began to back up with his first step in her direction. Her quick movements soon placed her beneath Marko's tree. He shifted, waiting to see which would escape the scene first, for whoever was left would be dinner.

The man lunged forward again, his thick hands reaching for the girl's throat. She jerked her head away, slamming her back against the rough bark of the tree. Her eyes drifted skyward as if to ask for divine intervention, and amazingly her gaze locked with Marko's. He recognized her then, remembered those flashing eyes from the street near the video store and almost tumbled from the tree with surprise.

The man staggered back, his hoarse voice casting out words black enough to stop a charging bull, one hand clasped to his neck. The moonlight drifted through the branches of the tree to reflect off of the blade the girl gripped in one hand, the silver stained with wet redness now.

The scent of blood drifted along the wind to tease past Marko's nose, tantalizing him with the heavy sweetness of it. His low growl made it no farther than his lips, but when the man below started in towards the girl again, he swept downward, the back draft from his drop shaking the branches and sending tiny twigs showering down upon the mortals below.

His fangs tore into the man's neck as they tumbled backward into the street, one of Marko's hands cupped over the human's mouth to muffle the screams tearing from his throat. As the vampire fed he expected the girl to run away, yelling her terror into the darkness, but she remained where she was, pressed against the trunk of the tree.

And when Marko finished his meal and flung the body aside, she was still there, her dark eyes focused on him. He started to lift the corpse, then thought better of it and turned towards her, moving closer with easy steps.

"Stay away," her voice shook, and she pressed back against the tree as if she thought she could wiggle inside and hide from the terror of the night, but she still didn't run.

"Why did you follow me the other day?" Marko heard himself ask, surprised that he'd chosen those words out of all that had filled his head. She shook her head, one hand pressed to her chest.

"Stay away." The tremors in her voice were fewer now and she stood up, lifting herself away from the tree trunk without using her hands. He stopped beneath the farthest spreading branches and cocked his head to one side, intrigued that she still didn't flee.

"Are you going to answer my question?" When she made no movement that could have been construed as an answer, he spoke again. "I'm Marko. Now why did you follow me?"

Her continued silence grated on his nerves, nerves that he hadn't had until lately, with all the pressure and problems in the Pack weighing down upon him. He lunged forward, though his hands remained at his sides, his voice the only thing to lash out.

"Why did you follow me?" he roared. Bright light flared and he jerked back, almost blinded by the reflection of moonlight off of the cross. The girl mistook his staggering steps for real pain and advanced on him, holding the cross out before her body like a shield.

"Go away," she muttered, pressing it closer to his face. "Go away." Marko kept his head down, shielded by his arms, until she was close enough, then lashed out, one hand grabbing the wrist of the hand that held the cross and turning it aside, the other wrapping around her throat, though he didn't tighten his fingers.

"It doesn't work, little one," Marko laughed down at her, walking forward until her back had hit the tree again. "Now please save yourself any further trouble and answer the question. Why did you follow me?"

"Because you're cute," the girl turned her head to the side as much as his hand would let her, trying to hide her expression and the red color that swept over her cheeks. He let his hand fall from her throat, for he hadn't expected that to be the answer-would never have expected that to be the answer.

"And because I figured out what you were," she continued, her eyes still averted. "I couldn't believe the stories were real, and I wanted to find out the truth. I guess I did." She motioned to the dead attacker with her free hand, then dropped the cross. It fell in a glittering line to the ground, out of reach of the moonlight.

"How did you know I was a vampire?" Marko released her wrist and was pleased to see that she didn't move away. The girl instead rubbed the places where his fingers had dug into her flesh as she answered.

"I heard that girl talking, at the movie rental," she admitted. "And then I heard you two talking when you left with her-I just put two and two together. And these boys in a comic book store were talking about vampires when I came in looking for a job-I didn't believe them then-but now..."

"The Frog brothers strike again," Marko groaned, rubbing one hand over his face. His human features faded back in, replacing fangs and ridges with flat teeth and smooth skin. "Why didn't you run away?"

"Because I wanted the truth," she repeated, snapping her eyes up to look at him, surprised by his lack of understanding. "Didn't I already tell you that?"

"Curiosity killed the cat," he murmured, watching her brown eyes sparkle, though nothing inhuman filled them to cause the light. She laughed, kneeling down to retrieve her cross necklace, which she dropped into her pocket as she stood.

"Good thing I'm not a cat then, isn't it?" Again she blushed, the color stealing over her face faster than her heart could beat. Marko couldn't repress the smile the reaction brought out, for it was adorable-in that mortal way, he reminded himself.

"What's your name?"

Her head sank down towards her chest and she refrained from answering. Marko lifted one eyebrow, then crossed his arms over his own chest, watching her pointedly until she lifted her eyes.

"You ran away from something and don't want to use your old name," he guessed. When she nodded, he echoed the movement. "Happens a lot here in Santa Carla. The town seems to draw them in or something. Makes it easy to feed-and easy to start a new life."

"That's why I'm here," she replied softly, wrapping her arms over her stomach, goose bumps rising along her bare arms. Marko noticed her reaction and stepped away from her, heading back towards his bike.

"I'll give you a name then," he called back to her, not pausing in his quick steps. "And give you some advice: stay in at night, Sprite. Not all the things that lurk under the cover of darkness will let you go like I am. Find someplace inside and stay there till the sun rises."

He catapulted himself onto his bike, the movement smooth and powerful all at once, like silk drawn taunt over a horse's back. The roar of the engine shattered the peace of the neighborhood and he was gone in a whip of wind and a one-handed salute back at her.

The girl stepped away from the tree and around the abandoned corpse with care, her eyes focused on the place Marko's bike had stood. One hand absently patted the pocket that held her cross and chain, but she didn't draw it out from the fabric.

"Sprite," she murmured, rolling the name over her tongue. "I like that. But I'm not going to stay in at night, Marko, cause then how would I see you." She picked up her fallen knife and wiped it clean on the grass before sliding it back into its sheath, then made her way on towards the Boardwalk's people, the scent of food strong in her nose.

She'd run into Marko again, of that she was certain. If fate didn't bring them together again as it had tonight-well, sometimes fate needed a helping hand.


	3. Chapter 3

Shauna shoved open the glass door to the movie rental with one well-placed smack of her hand. The bells jerked against their chains, struggling to crash to the ground from the force of the opening, but she stretched up to catch them with one hand and push them back into place.

The sound drew Rilly's attention and she jerked her head up, almost dropping the video she was handing across the counter to a customer. The tall man grabbed it from her at the last second and she mumbled her apologies, though she didn't turn her eyes back to him, instead searching the darkness behind Shauna.

"He's not coming," Shauna correctly interpreted her anxious gaze and Rilly sighed, slapping at her money drawer until it clanged shut. "He asked me to come get you because he has to go take care of Anna-or something like that." Shauna shrugged as she crossed to the counter.

"He always has to take care of Anna," Rilly muttered as she bent over to reach beneath the counter for her jacket and the small purse she'd taken to carrying as of late. Shauna's lips twitched, but she kept her expression neutral when the other female stood back up and joined her on the far side of the counter. "He never comes himself any more."

"Paul's been spending a lot of time with Anna, hasn't he?" Shauna dropped the sentence with a casual ease, the words sliding past her lips as if coated with oil. Rilly stopped, one foot almost lifted from the ground for she'd frozen in mid-step. The lack of motion lasted only a second, but Shauna knew she'd gotten her foot in the door.

"He has," Rilly admitted, shrugging her arms into her jacket, a small frown creasing the area between her dark eyebrows. "I mean, I know Anna's upset and having problems right now because of Dwayne-but-but I miss Paul. I haven't gotten to talk to him in weeks and I miss his company and..."

Shauna let the girl trail off and the silence grow between them, for she knew more than most the mood-altering powers of the quiet pauses in conversations. As she let the stillness continue, Shauna led Rilly into a café and settled her at one of the small, Formica tables. After procuring coffee and freshly baked cookies, she sank down into a chair across from the mortal and pressed her advantage.

"What were you going to say?" Shauna lifted a cookie to her mouth, leaving bits of melted chocolate smeared across her lips when she pulled it away. The innocent gesture seemed to soothe Rilly, for she heard herself answering the vampire's question.

"Just that I'm upset too. Anna killed my father, a fact that everyone seems to forget. Either that, or they expect me to be ok with it, and I'm not. I know he threatened the Pack and that he was the bad guy in this situation, but still. He was my father, and Paul-no one seems to care that I just lost half of my family. And I hate that I can't be really mad at Anna-at any of them, really. I understand the concept of revenge-more than some of the Pack does. It's what I grew up with, and I can't hate my family for trying to exact their revenge on the vampires-but neither can I hate the vampires for taking their revenge on my family. But it hurts."

"I'm sure it does," Shauna patted Rilly's hand, then offered her one of the warm cookies. "You have every right to be upset." Rilly ducked her head, her white teeth biting into her lower lip. Shauna allowed her her silence once more, finishing off the cookie she had begun and washed it down with a swig of thick coffee.

"I do, don't I?" Rilly lifted her head and offered a small smile to the vampire. "You're right, I do. I shouldn't be trying to hide my emotions because they are wrong-they're not wrong. Thank you."

Shauna nodded, letting the girl ease her hunger and thirst before she took advantage of her newly acquired trust and pounced on Rilly's emotional state once more.

"It has to be weird for Paul," she murmured almost off-hand. "I mean for him to be involved with someone who was created just to kill him and his family."

The cookie Rilly had just grasped crashed to the table and shattered, sending crumbs skittering off the ends down to the floor and into both girls' laps. Her face crumpled, just enough to reveal that she'd most certainly had the thoughts before, but Shauna could have been oblivious, for her attention was still focused on her own coffee.

"And what's more, how weird is it that if you'd done what you were born to do, then none of this would be happening. I mean, the biggest problem is that Anna betrayed her family-and if you'd done your job, she wouldn't have."

Rilly turned her head away, a strangled sob her only audible reaction to the vampire's words, but it drew Shauna's attention back to her. The vampire jerked her wrist, spilling the dark liquid over the edge of her cup and across the white table, then reached for Rilly's hand once more.

"Oh, Rilly, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-I wasn't really thinking about what I was saying, just rambling on, more to myself than you. I'm so terribly sorry." Her cool fingers grasped Rilly's hand, tugging on it persistently until the mortal faced her once again. "Can you ever forgive me?"

Rilly remained firm for all of a moment before she nodded, her shoulders slumping forward. "Of course I do, Shauna, you didn't mean to hurt me. And you were right, some of it at least-all of it really. I'm not mad at you."

"Come on, sweetie," Shauna stood and led the emotionally injured girl away from the food-covered table. "Let's go home." Rilly allowed her to drag her outside and into the air, once they were out of view of any of the other mortals, but Shauna's words continued to echo in her head, bouncing from one thought to the next until they were all she could think of.

*~*~*~*

"I'm sorry, little Sammy," Mrs. Frog patted the top of his head, her fingers ruffling through his hair like a gentle breeze. "The boys haven't been here all day. They said something about going out… " she trailed off, one hand wafting through the air as her forehead creased.

"It's ok, Mrs. F," Sam smiled and ducked out from under her hand, heading back out of the comic book store. "If you see them just tell them I came by-oh, I'll come back later, I guess."

"May your day be filled with joy," her typical farewell drifted out after him and Sam didn't try to hide his smile. Mrs. Frog was one of his favorite adults, for all her ethereal attitude and inability to pay attention to the things around her. She was just-fun.

Sam's final stop was at the video rental to let his mom know he was walking home. Lucy, busy with customers and the only worker in the store, nodded, but reminded him to be careful, for the sun had set.

By the time he arrived home, Sam was beginning to fear that Michael would have already gone. Though he doubted that his brother would have returned to the cave, not after what Rilly had told him, he wouldn't have been surprised to enter his house and find it empty.

He was wrong.

Grandpa lifted one hand in greeting when Sam walked in the front door, kicking it shut behind him, then slid the brown doors that led to his workshop closed. Sam shook his head and headed up the stairs, taking them two at a time, much as his brother used to do before he left.

When Sam pushed open his bedroom door and dropped his backpack next to the doorway, Michael looked up at him. The vampire sat on his younger brother's bed, his face resting in his hands, at least until Sam arrived. When he looked up, the mortal noticed the red lines rimming his dark eyes, a silent testament to the fact that he hadn't fed recently.

"Michael, what happened between you and Star?" Sam couldn't think of the appropriate small talk for the situation and instead chose to pass it by. He kicked his backpack out of the way and sank down onto the bed next to his brother.

Michael dropped his face back into his hands, a strangled groan rumbling in his throat. Sam pressed his hand to Michael's shoulder after a moment's hesitation, unsure of how to treat his brother still, though he'd been a vampire for almost a year. He had simply not been around enough for either of them-any of the family to grow comfortable with the change.

"Come on, Michael. I'm still your brother, remember?" Sam leaned forward and waited until his brother looked at him before continuing. "Whatever's going on, we can get through it-if we stick together. I know I haven't seen you much, but… "

"Hey, I'm sorry about that," Michael shifted, though he was careful to not knock Sam's hand off of his shoulder. "I should have come to visit more."

"It's ok," Sam ducked his head, then pressed down harder on his brother's body. "But that's not the point. Are you going to tell me what happened?" Michael groaned again, turning his face away, then laughed, a barking sound.

"You are persistent, aren't you? We had a little fight..." he sighed, scraping one hand through his hair and standing it on end for a second. "We fought over whether Anna deserves to be forgiven." He glanced sideways at his brother, then started to explain just why she'd need forgiveness.

"I know," Sam broke in, wanting to get back to the important part of the conversation. "Mom and Rilly already talked to me."

"How does mom know?" Michael frowned, then shrugged. "I guess Rilly told her too, huh?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sam sat back, dropping both hands into his lap. "Why did you forgive Anna? I mean, if she did something that bad… why?"

Michael shook his head, squeezing his eyes closed as he tried to balance his thoughts in his head. "She wasn't in control," he said at last. "She was under a spell. Can't blame her for doing what she was forced to. And she's forgiven everyone before, why doesn't she deserve the same consideration? And she gave… "

"What did she give?" Sam pressed when Michael didn't complete his sentence. The vampire shoved himself to his feet, crossing to the corner of the room in what looked like one step to the mortal, for he'd moved too fast to watch.

"It was my fault Anna became a vampire," Michael ducked his head, looking as if he would blush, had he fed more recently. "I guess forgiving her for this is my way of making that up to her. I'm not sure if she even wanted to be a vampire; I gave her no choice."

"Yeah," Sam nodded, pressing his hands tighter against his thighs. "I guess that makes sense… but I never knew it was your fault."

"Yeah." Michael flopped back onto the bed, covering his eyes with one arm. "It was."

"So how are you going to fix things with Star?" Sam offered a new topic after a moment, wanting to clear the tension tightening the air between them. Michael shrugged, the movement almost not recognizable now that he was lying down, but Sam understood it none-the-less.

"I don't think I can," Michael admitted. "She's so adamant that Anna should be destroyed-I doubt there is a middle ground. Not that I blame her; Laddie is like a younger brother to her. She's heartbroken about this-and I bet I just made it worse."

"Hey, no worries, Mike," Sam patted his arm then bounced off the bed and onto his feet. "We'll figure something out. I'm going to go start dinner; mom said she'd be a little late. And don't you take off, she wants to talk to you."

Michael rolled off of the bed, headed for the still covered window. "I'll be back," he promised Sam. "But I have to feed before I talk to mom. I'm already hurting."

"Hurry up and join us for dinner," Sam called after him as he jerked the shade up and pushed open the glass. "I think mom will like that."

"Sure, kid," Michael was gone then with a rush of wind and a soft flapping sound. He flew too quickly, leaving the area before he could hear Sam's final words.

"And so would I," Sam turned, shutting his bedroom door behind him. Nanook darted up the stairs, whining when he pressed his head against Sam's thigh. Sam patted his fur once, then led the dog downstairs to get dinner for them both.

*~*~*~*

As the darkness faded from Anna's mind, her senses prickled, tiny lighting bolts of tension letting her know that she was no longer alone in her secluded sleeping room. She jerked upright, the thin blanket tumbling off of both her and the couch to puddle on the floor.

Victoria and Adam sat in the entrance to the room; their bodies were entwined together, backs pressed against the doorframe. Anna blinked at them, sleep still filling her eyes, her mind full of shadows.

"What do you want?" Anna rolled her head around in a slow circle, the cracks that rippled along her neck audible even to the werewolves across the room. Neither of the animals spoke and Anna fixed her gaze upon them once more. Before she could open her mouth to chastise them for bothering her, Adam rose to his knees, detaching his body from Victoria's with a grace far beyond any Anna had seen before, even from the preternatural creatures.

He crawled across the floor to the vampire slowly, each placement of his hands or feet chosen with care. His head jerked up so that his eyes could lock with hers and Anna felt herself swallow, though she hadn't consciously willed the action, for his body seemed to vibrate with something she couldn't quite understand-some mix of sex and violence in motion that she wasn't sure she would be able to handle-or even if she should.

"We're worried about you," Victoria's words came out in something akin to a purr; she wished not to disturb Anna further, but merely to soothe her before Adam reached her. "You aren't eating properly."

Anna's face twisted, her white teeth nibbling at her lower lip, dark brows bent into the beginning of a frown. Her gaze remained on Adam, for he was before her now. The werewolf tucked his legs up under his body and leaned forward. Anna shuddered when his warm breath washed over her bare thigh and she curled up legs up against her body, wanting to tug the black shorts down farther, but unwilling to let them see her lack of control. Adam continued his forward movement and let his head fall to rest on Anna's knee, his gaze still focused on her face, waiting for Victoria to finish her explanation.

"You need to eat," Victoria rose to her feet, muscles in her legs propelling her upward in a movement that was too smooth to be human. Anna's eyes jerked away from Adam's only long enough to make sure the female werewolf came no closer before she gazed down at him once more. "You're gaunt, like a pup born too early. I can see your veins, so empty are they."

Anna's sigh slid throughout the room, for she'd heard this complain too often in the recent past to allow it to bear much weight. Her visitors weren't vampires though, and she was overwhelmed with the need to be honest, for once.

"I can't go hunt, Victoria. Now when Dwayne's out there every night, feeling the way he does about me. I know I'm not eating, and it hurts-it claws at my stomach every night. But I can't do it!" She shattered for an instant, her words ending in a sob, her eyes melting into the tears she'd kept locked away.

Victoria blinked and the expression was gone, the solid rock wall holding her emotions captive in position once more. The werewolf stalked forward, drawing Anna's attention again, though her eyes returned to Adam when he spoke up for the first time.

Adam lifted his head from her knee, holding her gaze though his hair fell down in front of his eyes, enhancing the animalistic darkness filling his face and his voice. "You don't have to leave and hunt," he growled, placing his hands on either side of her legs and pressing his body up higher, his bare chest brushing against her knees. "I will feed you."

"What?" Anna's confusion was sharper this time, her eyebrows dark slashes highlighting her frown. Even her eyes filled with it, the bright light pushing out the pain and sadness that punctuated her every thought these days.

Adam pressed himself higher, tilting his head to one side until his throat was bared to her, the vein down the front pulsing beneath his skin, throbbing with his quick heartbeat.

Anna remained frozen where she was, her breath caught tightly in her mouth, then let it out in a quick burst of warmth. One hand lifted to brush his hair out of the way, the strands rough against her fingers, but still pleasant, a contrast to Dwayne's hair that worked nicely.

She leaned forward, her lips just barely touching his throat when she spoke. "You're sure?" she murmured, her words vibrating along his skin in a warm burst. Adam's voice spilled out in a dark groan.

"Yes," a hiss flowed into the ending of his answer, for Anna's tongue darted out across his vein, bringing the feel of the throbbing pulse into her mouth, along with the salty-sweet taste of his sun-baked skin.

Anna echoed Adam's groan and allowed her fangs to descend. The fresh blood, so close to the surface of his body that she could already almost taste it, screamed for her to take it, and she was far too weak to deny such powerful blood its will.

Her fangs dipped into Adam's throat, pressing past the outer layer of skin until his vein opened beneath her kiss, flooding her mouth with his blood. It pulsed into her body, sliding down her throat, its silky texture soothing the tightness there until she relaxed and began to drink deeper, her mouth working over the wound with soft sucking motions.

The pounding in Adam's chest picked up speed as Anna stroked her fingers through his hair, her nails dragging over his scalp in a stunning mix of pleasure and pain. His increased heartbeat forced the blood through his veins faster, and Anna moaned into his skin, her throat and mouth working at an almost frantic rate to take in all of the liquid.

Victoria's eyes flashed golden as her inner beast shoved its way toward the surface, taunted by the sight of her mate in the arms of another woman, no matter how much she considered that other woman a friend. She forced her change away, clenching her hands until her nails drew blood on her palms, for the pain helped her to remain in control.

Anna pulled away, her tongue trailing over the double puncture wounds in Adam's throat, stealing the last drops of blood that spilled out before his enhanced healing took over and the marks closed. Her hand slid out of his hair, stroking across his cheek on its way back to her lap.

When Adam sat up so he could meet Anna's eyes, she refused to look at him until he caught her chin and forced her to, the movement gentle but ferocious all at once. "Don't do that," he groaned, his thumb wiping away a drop of blood-his blood, his mind screamed-from her lower lip. "You did nothing wrong."

"Thank you," Anna breathed, unable to look away from the werewolf now that he had her attention. Her breathing matched his breath for breath, and it took a concentrated effort for both of them to slow the harsh gasps, forcing their bodies into a more relaxed state.

"Any time, fang," Adam patted her hair as he rose. Anna pressed her head up into his touch, then jerked away, unnerved by the bond she could already feel forming with him. He didn't seem to notice, for he returned to Victoria, drawing his mate into his arms, his soft words reassuring her of his caring, for her jealousy was visible on her face.

Anna pressed her face down into her hands as the werewolves bonded in front of her, for her senses still sang with the new blood flowing through her veins, blood that was powerful enough to drive the weeks of hunger and weakness out of her mind.

"We will be back tomorrow night," Adam promised the vampire. She didn't look up at him, instead waving them away with one pale hand-though it was less pale than it had been even moments before.

Neither werewolf would move until she looked up at them, and when Anna did, she was surprised to see relief filling Victoria's face, the new emotion having driven out the jealousy. "We will be back tomorrow night," the female werewolf echoed and Anna nodded, unable to stop the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

Before she could comment, to thank Adam once more, the werewolves were gone, leaving only their scent, thick with the outdoors and a dark wildness that called to Anna's baser nature. She allowed her body to collapse back onto the couch, one hand pressed to her stomach, the other to her lips, where she could still taste Adam's blood.

The smile curved across her entire mouth this time, a satisfied smirk that hadn't been seen from her for months now. As she rested there, growing used to the strength flooding through her body as Adam's blood continued to hum through her veins, her mind actually focused on this problem with Dwayne-and for the first time she didn't push the thoughts away.

*~*~*~*

The cool railing pressed against Dwayne's bare stomach, damp with the spray from the ever-raging ocean. The wind whipped his dark hair around his face, the strands snapping across his eyes. His gaze focused out onto the water, locked onto the few surfers still there, risking the dangers of night and the rocks at the base of the cliff he stood on, driven by their desire to catch that one last perfect wave.

The air above his head swirled faster than the wind was moving, an unnatural disturbance that failed to draw his attention. Shauna landed behind him, closer to the tall lighthouse converted into a surfing museum. He didn't turn his head to look at her, not even when she joined him at the edge of the cliff, turning her back to the ocean and resting her arms against the rail.

"Fancy meeting you here," she inclined her head toward him, but Dwayne said nothing. She knew enough to remain silent, letting the wind ruffle her hair, the salt-laden water scenting the air strong enough to cover the smell of the mortals below.

Her persistence paid off, for he began to speak after only five minutes of silence, a time period that felt much longer than it had been. Fog began to creep up from the water, obscuring the waves from view, and wrapping the two vampires in a solitude as thick as a wool blanket. The privacy it offered seemed to comfort Dwayne and was what he needed to speak freely, for as long as he kept his gaze forward, the white air blurred Shauna's form.

"I used to surf," he murmured, dropping his hands to grip the damp rail. His fingers wrapped around the metal so tightly that his knuckles turned white, but he didn't seem to notice the tension. "Because of the freedom it offered. That's where Paul and I became friends; not because we shared a thirst for blood and an aversion to the sun, but because he could teach me to control myself out there on the waves, and that's what I needed-wanted more than anything. He became my bro as we fought the water, and I miss that. I haven't surfed since-since Anna came along and made everything complicated."

Shauna expected Dwayne to fall silent after mentioning the traitor and broke in before he had a chance to. She twisted her body until she could face him, though he refused to turn his head. Her eyes swept over the profile of his face, noting the sharp jaw line that tensed under her gaze. "Anna does seem to have a habit of messing things up," Shauna began, keeping her voice low so it was if she was speaking not to him directly, but to the world in general. "She always did as a child."

Dwayne kept his gaze focused on the almost invisible ocean, wanting more than anything to tell her to stop speaking of the vampire, but he found himself unable to force his mouth to form the words. His curiosity in Anna's hidden past overwhelmed his bitter anger, and hearing her name spoken, even under such conditions, helped to ease the ache in his gut he refused to acknowledge.

"Whenever Anna would try to do something," Shauna continued, still letting her voice echo beneath the crash of waves, "things would always go wrong. She'd never try to deny it though; she'd take the blame and become obsessed with whatever she couldn't do. She would practice it for hours, not stopping until she finally had it perfect."

Her laugh cut through the stillness descending around them in the fog, grating at Dwayne's ears though he did nothing to stop her from continuing her story. "It's a pity she didn't perfect her skills as the Protector in time."

Dwayne winced, his entire body jerking away from Shauna, reacting to her words at long last. The story of Anna's youth had captivated him, and he had forgotten that she was a traitor, forgotten that his almost-brother lay unmoving in a bed, in a near-death state that he probably wouldn't recover from.

He flung himself into the air, almost catching one foot on the railing as he catapulted out toward the ocean. The backlash of wind knocked Shauna off balance and she staggered towards the museum, slapping her hands against it to keep from falling to the damp grass.

Shauna struggled to follow Dwayne's path through the sky, but he was too fast for her and she caught nothing more than the swirling lines of fog that had been disturbed by his passing. She shrugged, then stood up, straightening her pants and the loose jacket that fell to her hips.

She was hurtling down the edge of the cliff a moment later, plucking the final surfer from his surfboard even as he fought the waves to return to the safety of land. Her fangs shredded his throat as she drank, the blood made even sweeter by the fact that she'd recognized the set of Dwayne's shoulders when she arrived, understand his silent watch over the final brave ones-he'd been protecting them from the darkness of night and had failed as surely as Anna had.


	4. Chapter 4

Adam slid the button down shirt over his broad shoulders, the fresh bite wounds on his throat glistening in the dim evening light. He hesitated at the door, turning back to fix his fierce stare at Anna's languid form. The vampire had collapsed down onto the couch once her meal was done, sated on his powerful blood and content to relax for the beginning of her night.

"Victoria will be in tomorrow," Adam reminded her, a slow smile lifting his lips, the resemblance to a natural wolf one that did not pass Anna by as she blinked at him, her own smile closer to a pleased smirk.

"Ok, wolf," she murmured. It was an effort to lift her arm, but she forced her hand into the air in a droopy salute. "Are you going out tonight?"

"Back to the Boardwalk," Adam straightened his collar, miniscule shivers racing down his spine when the fabric brushed over the twin fang marks. "Victoria's been feeling restless."

"Be careful, pet of mine," Anna's hand dropped back to her lap and her eyes drifted closed once again. Adam shook his head, sending strands of hair spilling across his forehead. He continued to watch her for a moment, then ran one hand down across his stomach and moved out of the room.

Anna opened her eyes a moment later, her lips already parting to question his continued presence when he should have been out with Victoria-only to jerk upright when her eyes fell upon the empty doorway.

Adam should have been there, for she could feel him in her head just as strongly as she had when he'd been pressed against her body, her fangs deep within his skin. Instead he was gone and when she pushed to her feet and hurried down the dark hallway into the main room, she found him completely gone, out with Victoria.

Adam's presence continued to thrum inside Anna's head, drawing her attention to the warmth rushing through her brain. The more she concentrated on it the stronger it became, until her senses were flooded with a cool breeze, the air whipping at her face in a way that could have only come from a motorcycle. The throb of the engine hit her ears and she groaned, then cried out when she felt the machine begin to tilt, the driver thrown off balance from the invasion.

In an instant she was back in her own body, both hands pressed to her stomach, her body shaking from the residual effects of the bond with Adam-the word sprang into her mind unbidden and she whirled, hair snapping against her face, then headed down another hallway, her steps merging into harsh slaps as she began to run towards the only one who could answer her question-and the only vampire she could trust.

*~*~*~*

D'ara dipped a pitcher into the lake hidden in one of the farthest back rooms of the cave. She stood, her old legs creaking from too much up and down movement as of late and crossed back to her cauldron, pouring the water inside a small splash at a time, her wrinkled lips forming exotic words as she chanted over it.

David stormed into the lake room, his movement jerking to a stop when he found the witch working over the cauldron. Out of necessity he would let her finish whatever potion she was working on before he approached closer, but his body vibrated with his restrained fury.

D'ara dipped her hand into the bag at her waist, sprinkling the silver powder inside into the mixture filling the black cauldron. The water fizzled and started to bubble up when she added it, but a quick sweep of her metal spoon and it calmed. The liquid started to gel at once and she was forced to stir it continually until it separated.

She dipped one of the bottles the vampires had provided her with into the cauldron, tilting it just so until the potion slid into it, filling it to the base of the neck. D'ara lifted it out, letting the excess drip from the glass sides back into the mixture, then set the bottle on the table next to her, capping it with the cork that fit in tightly.

"D'ara," David's voice filled the room at last, for he had grown impatient with waiting. She whirled to face him, wiping her damp hands on her skirt, leaving dark water stains across the blue fabric.

"Yes?" she didn't wait for his answer before pointing to the bottle she had so recently filled. "I have a new potion for you to try on the boy, David." As the vampire stalked she began to back up, careful to move around the cauldron and not spill what she had worked so hard on.

"Your potions aren't working," David growled when he was close enough to reach her. He lashed out, one hand tight around her throat, then shoved backward until she hit the rock wall at the back of the room. "I grow tired of your excuses."

"But I try," D'ara forced out past his constricting grip. "I am doing everything I know how to." A pale hand, moving faster than her eyes could follow, crashed into her cheek, snapping her head to one side as much as David's other hand would allow.

"No excuses," he snarled, leaning in until his breath rushed across her cheeks, hot and dry. "I want results now, D'ara!" His hand swung again, cracking when it contacted her cheek and knocking her head to the other side. Twice more the blows fell, leaving her skin mottled with bruises.

Anna's steps slowed when a loud crack filled the room she was approaching. She peeked around the corner, utilizing the caution that so often failed her. The sight of David attacking D'ara greeted her eyes and she stepped fully into the room, though she remained silent, not wanting to disturb his torture session.

D'ara, desperate for something, anything to distract David from his pointed beating, cast her anxious gaze over his shoulder-and noticed the newcomer standing in the corner.

"My child," she whispered out, the words compressed by the pain in her body. "Welcome."

Anna snapped, a warm fire of anger racing from her belly to her head, sweeping a needed calmness through her, along with a flash of welcome blankness to her whirling thoughts. When she crossed the room in two great bounds, her body moved on instinct alone-and when she knocked David to one side so that her own hand could close in around D'ara's throat, nails dipping into the skin as she tried to bring her fist together to tear outward, David was so surprised by her presence, as well as the violence driving her forward, that he allowed himself to be shoved away.

Only when the scent of the witch's blood filled his nose did he realize he had better do something to stop the rampaging vampire. Though he could understand the desire to destroy the one who had brought them such pain, for now D'ara was better to them alive than dead.

David stomped forward, grabbing Anna's arm at the wrist, his other hand gripping her chin until he could force her to turn her black gaze upon him. "Release her," he murmured, tilting his head forward until his words fell directly into her ear. "Release her."

Anna's hand fell away from D'ara's throat, her long nails stained with the woman's blood. David lifted that hand to his lips, his tongue sweeping out to sample the fluid before he turned his blank gaze to the witch.

"Find a cure," he ordered, tucking Anna's hand under his arm, then turning to walk away. "Or next time I won't pull her off. Find a cure, witch, or suffer more pain." The mortal's eyes locked on to the retreating vampires, watching as they slid out of the room, one of her hands testing the wounds on her throat.

*~*~*~*

David settled Anna down on one end of the leather couch he'd tucked away in his own private room. She'd cleaned the blood from under her nails as best she could and the rage the woman had provoked in her body had since calmed, leaving her drained, with the problem that had sent her running to David still tumbling around in her mind.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" David sank down onto the couch next to her, stretching his legs out to make himself more comfortable. Anna glanced up from her perusal of her nails, her face still crinkled into an agitated frown.

She pressed her hands down against her knees and stood, her quick steps taking her from one side of the room to the other faster than a mortal could have moved. "I've been feeding off of Adam and Victoria," she spat out, her worry forcing her words out at a quick pace. "And it's been-good. Powerful. I've never felt better, actually. But we've been doing this for almost a week and a half now and… "

"And?" David prompted when she stopped speaking. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands, his cerulean eyes focused on her moving form.

"And today, when Adam left-I could still feel him," she flung her hands up into the air and stopped before David's body, staring down at him. "It was as if he was in the room with me, but he wasn't. He wasn't even in the cave. And when I concentrated on the feeling hard enough-I-I… " she gulped, then spilled the rest of her admission in a torrent of frantic words. "I could see and feel what he did-he was on his bike and I could feel it and hear it-and then I made him lose control of it for a second. David, what's going on?"

David stood, guiding Anna back down onto the couch. When he returned to his seat, he shifted closer to her, taking both her hands into his. "I'm sorry," he admitted, drawing a quiet gasp from her lips. "I should have started your vampire training sooner-things have just been one mishap on top of another from the beginning."

"I-know," Anna mumbled, searching his face for some real explanation as to why he was apologizing, why he was being so kind to her. David interpreted the look correctly and sighed, then squeezed her hands.

"This is my fault," he told her at long last. "My fault that you were never taught everything you should know about being a vampire. I was-jealous, in the beginning, because it was obvious that your power wasn't going to be mine to mold. I didn't want to give Dwayne the extra power he might have needed to cinch his control of my Pack, so I didn't teach you what I should have. It was my responsibility as your leader to make sure everything was clear-and I failed. I'm sorry, Anna."

"It's-it's ok," Anna forced her frown away, afraid he would interpret it as anger. "Could you explain what's going on now, though?" David chuckled, the sound creeping down Anna's spine, but nodded.

"Of course. The first thing to explain is Master Vampires. I'm not sure you've even heard the term, but it is an important one among vampires. A vampire only becomes a Master through his or her natural power, and there is an upper limit to that power. Some vampires can be alive for eternity, and their power won't be enough to make them a Master. For instance, I doubt Star will ever become a Master. She just doesn't have the strength within to grow that powerful-she'll be strong, of course, but not a Master."

"You're a Master," though Anna formed the words into a statement, David knew what she was asking. He squeezed her hands again, also noting the underlying question that she was too nervous to ask.

"Yes, I am," he replied. "Our Pack is unusual, for it is rare to find so many Masters and potential Masters in the same group. Usually Master Vampires will split away from other Masters, trying to form their own group of lessers. To have four, with two potentials is unheard of."

"Why are you all together, then?" Anna withdrew one of her hands from his to shove a strand of hair out of her face, her gaze still focused intently on his eyes.

"There are quite a few reasons," David admitted. "Marko is actually weak for a Master-though I think he will gain power as he gets older still. He's already grown stronger in the more recent years, so that should change. Paul hides his power because he doesn't want to lead a Pack. He told me once he's more comfortable not being in charge of all their lives; he's a good back up as it is. And Dwayne came into his powers later than he should have-no one thought he was going to be a Master, not even me. But all of a sudden whatever was stopping him from growing was gone and I turned around he was vibrating with power-surprising because… "

"Because why?" Anna pressed. She'd leaned forward at the first mention of Dwayne's name and clung to his story as if it were a thin line of gossamer thrown to her while she drowned in a sea of blood.

"He had a bad beginning to vampire life," was all David would tell her. "If he wants to elaborate, he will."

"That still doesn't explain why I have this link to Adam and Victoria," Anna reminded her leader after a moment. David nodded and settled back against the back of the couch, continuing with his explanation.

"As I said before, we have two potentials. Laddie-and you. You will become a Master, of that I have no doubt-and most likely sooner than other vampires your age, because the blood of so many Master Vampires went into making you. Part of the growth into a Master depends on who your sire is, on who made you."

"Oh," Anna's breath escaped in a quick sigh and she too relaxed back against the couch. Though she managed to keep the pleased smile off of her face, David could read her reaction in the placement of her body, and he had to hide his own smile.

"Master Vampires have many talents, depending on their power," he explained. "But one of the more common is the ability to Call animals. Calling an animal just means that you have the power to bond with a certain flavor of animal, using their strength to your advantage and using their actual bodies as your people. They will come to you when you Call, as a pet, though more than that."

"What animal do you Call?" Anna asked, a tiny frown narrowing her eyes once more as she tried to wrap her mind around this new information. Never had she wanted to learn about what she had become, until David's explanation sparked an inner knowledge that had remained hidden for so many months. "And how exactly do you Call?"

"What you did earlier with Adam was the Call," David told her calmly. "It takes an act of concentration in the beginning, but once you are used to it, you will be able to Call your animal by second nature. For you, since you are not yet a full Master, it was more a fluke because you have taken his blood. When you reach full status, you will be able to Call your animal without needing the blood bond."

He stood, crossing to the cabinet on the far side of the room and withdrew two bottles of blood, one of which he offered to Anna when he returned to the couch. They both drank deeply, for the heavy conversation was a drain on the vampires just as it would have been to mortals, though the blood perked them up at once.

"You will most likely have wolves as your animal to Call, based on your reaction to this bond with Adam and Victoria," David admitted. "And Masters can Call both natural and preternatural creatures in their animal-for example, you could be able to Call both wolves and werewolves."

"Interesting," Anna drained the last bit of blood from her bottle and set it aside, amazed that she'd been willing and able to drink any of it even after her earlier feeding. Her appetite had finally returned, she realized with happiness, then again focused her attention on David.

"I too can Call wolves," David told her after he sipped at the blood. "Though I don't do it often. And now that you're blood bonded with Adam and Victoria, I doubt I will be able to Call them away from you. Marko calls bears, mostly grizzlies, but any kind if he concentrates. Paul calls sharks, possibly because he was so interested in the ocean even before his turning. Dwayne can call the big cats-his main animal is the leopard, but with more effort he can call any of them."

"I don't understand how sharks would help," Anna voiced the latest barrage of questions in her mind. "Nor how the extra effort works. And what is this blood bond between me and the werewolves?"

"Sharks aren't considered the most helpful animal," David explained to her, "because they can't come onto the land. However, vampires can draw energy from their animal, much like you drew physical reactions when you locked onto Adam. Through a process much like that one, you can get power and energy from them-so if you are weak, you can draw on their strength and continue to fight or survive or what-not."

"Oh." Anna nodded, picking absently at the knee of her pants. "That makes more sense then."

"The bond between you and the werewolves comes because you drank their blood. It doesn't happen all the time, but when a vampire repeatedly feeds off of one person, especially with the likelihood that you'll be able to Call them as you get more powerful, a bond can form, one that in this case seems to be a prequel to what will happen when you are a Master. I'd say not to worry about it, but enjoy the additional power it will give all three of you."

"I-I should probably talk to Adam and Victoria next time," Anna shook her hair back over her shoulders with a small sigh. "But I think you're right-and I hope they won't worry or get upset over this either."

"As for the extra effort," David continued his explanation again. "Because of the smaller numbers of big cats and certain types of bears, with more effort, Master Vampires can Call any type besides their original animal. It works the same for those who Call other animals as well. For instance, those who Call wolves can also Call dogs with more work, though it isn't usually necessary."

"The extra effort is more concentration, true?" Anna asked, leaning forward once more, intrigued by the new powers he was telling her she would receive in the future, no matter how long it took.

"That's a fairly good description of it," David smiled, patting her arm before he set his own empty bottle aside. "Any other questions for me?"

"Yes, one," Anna dropped her head to stare down at her hands, which were pressed together in her lap. David waited, letting her keep her silence until she felt free enough to ask. "Why have you forgiven me so quickly, David?"

David sighed, dropping his own head down, then gathered her hands in his once more and caught her eyes. "This is my fault too," he admitted, his voice thick with seriousness. "They were after me for revenge, so this is more my fault than yours. And-I'd forgotten what some things felt like-forgotten about my past. I don't want to lose more friends over the twists of fate, Anna, and you deserve to be forgiven. This wasn't just your fault, many of us had a hand in it."

Anna dropped her head again, this time to hide the tears she tried to blink out of her eyes. David allowed her the moment to regain her composure, for he too needed to clear his expression from unwieldy emotions.

"You do remind me of Jana," David whispered when she looked up at him once more. "Just a little. Your powers taste the same-you remind me of what she might have been able to become if she'd been given the chance. I wouldn't let myself remember how much I missed her-until all this happened. Anna, I know things were rough at first-but I do want your friendship."

Anna leaned forward and wrapped her arms around David. She was unable to put her emotions into words, but the uncharacteristic display from him overwhelmed her-though it didn't frighten her-and she did the only thing she could think of. David allowed his own arms to tighten around her waist until he was almost clinging to her.

Anna's eyes snapped open, revealing the darkness of David's shirt beneath her face. She realized with a startling clarity that this was what they should have been from the beginning-and at long last they'd managed to escape the problems plaguing them-and they were finally friends.

*~*~*~*

Marko pushed open the door to Laddie's sick room with care, letting his gaze grow accustomed to the murkiness inside before he entered. His eyes fell upon Star, who sat perched on the end of Laddie's bed, with a gauntness in her face that frightened him. The dark shawl settled over her shoulders did nothing but throw her paleness into prominence.

"Star?" If his voice startled her, she showed no sign of that fact. He approached the bed, his steps even more slow than his entrance had been, to the point where had he not heard the scrape of his heel on the floor, he wouldn't have been sure he was actually moving.

"Star, what's wrong?" The inappropriateness of his words struck him immediately and Marko winced, reaching one hand out towards the vampire before him as if to pluck his sentence from the air.

"Besides Laddie," he continued, keeping his voice low and soothing. At last he reached the edge of Laddie's bed and sank down onto it, close enough that Star's skirt brushed his knee but their flesh did not come into contact. "What has happened to you?"

"Michael is gone," Star's words spilled forth in a bitter torrent, though her eyes remained focused on Laddie's blank face. "We argued days ago and he left because I had infuriated him so-and he still has not returned. It's been over a week."

"Star," Marko touched her arm, his fingers just brushing the dark shawl that spilled down from her shoulders. "What did you fight about?" The pressure of his hand remained light, so as to not upset her more than she already was. He could feel the small trembles constantly teasing her skin beneath his touch.

"Anna." That one word explained more of the situation than a thousand books could have and Marko nodded, his hand trailing away from the female. It wasn't a conscious movement, but the darkness underlying the two syllables told Marko all he needed to know about Star's position on Anna's forgiveness.

Silence descended around them, creeping in from the sharp rocks hanging over head, playing through the ambient light that filtered the darkness, light from the few candles and single lantern strategically placed next to Laddie's bed, throwing his face into white relief.

Before Marko had captured one of the thoughts whirling through his brain and examined it to make sure it was the best for the situation, Star began to mumble, her faint words barely reaching his ear. When he had deciphered just what she said, it was all he could do to keep from leaping up and charging out of the sick room, rampaging the cave until he found Shauna.

"Star, Shauna told you these things?" he asked, wanting to confirm the suspicions already forming in his mind. She nodded, her head sinking down onto her chest with the last movement. Her hair skittered forward, falling into her face, covering the whiteness with a sheen of dark curls.

"She came in and talked with me," Star admitted, her eyes falling shut. "And she listened to me complain about Michael-she even agreed with me at times. But some of what she said-I would have never thought of it on my own. Oh, Marko, what if she's right?"

Marko pressed his hand to her arm once more, the wail she'd ended the sentence on shaking him from his thoughts. "She's not right, Star." He lifted his hand and brushed the curls from her face, his cool fingers dipping beneath her chin and turning her head until she glanced at him and he could capture her eyes.

"Are you sure?" Relief brightened the dark orbs and he felt himself nod. She smiled up at him, the expression barely lifting the corners of her mouth, but it was a smile none-the-less and he welcomed the change from her previous melancholy.

"I'll even go look for Michael if you want," Marko offered, wanting to be away from this room and out in action. She nodded, her head whipping around to look down at Laddie, but whatever she thought she'd felt had to have been imagined, for he was as still as ever.

"Thank you, Marko," she whispered, pressing her own cool fingers against his hand. "I can't thank you enough for helping me." He patted her hand, amazed that she was still alive, for her skin was as pale as porcelain, the blue veins beneath it standing out in high relief.

"Eat, Star, and eat a lot," Marko told her as he rose. "That will be thanks enough." Her lips twisted at the thought of blood, but he remained where he was until she nodded, the slight movement as good as a promise from the woman.

Marko brushed one hand over Laddie's shaggy hair then left Star to her vigilance, shutting the door behind him with care. Star's comments on Shauna's words refused to leave his mind, no matter how hard he tried to banish them, and as he took to the night and his bike, he couldn't help but wonder just how many pies Shauna had been dipping her fingers into.

*~*~*~*

Marko left his bike near the video store out of habit. They'd long ago chosen to park near it, probably so Max could keep an eye on them. After spending decades being watched by a vampire who was no stronger than the leader or the lieutenant of his Pack, Marko was still thankful the old man had been destroyed.

"Never did like parking here," Marko muttered, but didn't take the time to move his bike. He'd come to the Boardwalk for a specific purpose, and nothing was going to deter him from his path-unless that mortal appeared again.

He shook his head to clear away the wayward thoughts and instead focused on finding Dwayne. He didn't know why he'd chosen to start searching on the crowded Boardwalk-by now enough night had passed that Dwayne's feeding would be done, and once upon a time his friend would have left the masses of humanity for a quieter stretch of beach.

Not so these days, it would seem, for Marko spotted the other vampire just ahead, lounging on the back of one of the wooden benches set up to allow tired humans to rest during their sunlight excursions to the beach and the stores that hid the street from the main part of the Boardwalk.

Marko's thoughts twisted as he approached Dwayne, part of his mind caught up with what else might have changed inside the vampire.

With his actions of the past few weeks, and this new obsession with the energy of the Boardwalk, he couldn't help but worry that he would no longer be able to understand what his friend was thinking-and if he lost his ability to empathize with Dwayne, he'd have no ground on which to talk to him.

"Dwayne," Marko called out his name before he reached the bench, angling himself around until he could lean back against the low brick wall that opened up a foot to his left into wooden stairs descending to the sand. "Didn't think I'd find you here."

Dwayne nodded at him, a rough jerk of his head that Marko took to be a greeting-and one that he was used to. His stomach began to unknot at the familiar action and he felt his lips twist up into a smile, though the other vampire continued to stare out to the sea, not noticing his expression.

"Has Shauna come to you and initiated any conversations about Anna?" Marko asked, skipping the small talk he knew would be pointless. Dwayne's gaze remained distant but he nodded, the motion enough answer for Marko-though it brought with a million other questions.

"Want to talk about what she said?" Marko asked, leaning forward so that only his ass remained pressed against the bricks. Dwayne turned his head to look at the shorter vampire, his hair cascading along his shoulder.

"Why?" Darkness slid beneath the single syllable, along with more than a hint of a threat, but Marko chose to ignore the implied meaning and stick strictly to the literal.

"Because I'm just curious as to what she had to say about Anna," he admitted, straightening up again. "That's all."

Dwayne was on his feet, the motion too fast for Marko to follow, even with his enhanced vision. He pressed his body back into the wall to escape Dwayne's wrath, but the older vampire made no move to strike him.

"Why do you want to talk about her?" he snarled, the waves of his anger riding the wind to slam into Marko's face. The amount of fury radiating off of his friend struck Marko harder than any fist could have done and he winced, though he didn't allow himself to look away. "Why are you so lenient toward Laddie's killer?"

"Laddie's not dead yet," Marko reminded Dwayne, keeping his voice mild. "So she can't be his killer." Dwayne waved away his words with a sharp twist of his hand, his face darkening at Marko's defense of the vampire.

"Look how long it's been since he was hurt," Dwayne's words thundered out like a herd of stampeding buffalo chased by a tribe wanting to kill them. "He hasn't changed at all, Marko, and he's not going to."

"Don't curse him with your words," Marko snapped, then sucked in a deep, if unneeded, breath. "And you seem to forget-she was under a spell, Dwayne. Wasn't in control of her own actions. Does any of this sound familiar to you?"

Dwayne's lips twisted into a silent snarl, though he still wouldn't bare his teeth at someone he had once considered a friend-still might, if things were different. "It doesn't matter," he jerked his head away, gazing out at the ocean once more as if he expected to draw peace and control from the troubled waters. "She did that to him, and she's not been punished. You have chosen to forgive her-everyone has chosen to do so, and she does not deserve it."

Marko kept his comment to himself, instead watching Dwayne's face intently, for he could almost see the tight walls Dwayne had built up begin to crumble at the edges of his face.

"She shouldn't live." Dwayne's words slid into Marko's ears again, though his thoughts had blocked out a good portion of the vampire's ranting. The ferocity in Dwayne's voice seemed to stem not from his anger at Anna, Marko decided, but something deeper, something that threatened to break the surface if he continued to speak.

"Laddie was trying to save me," the words poured forth and Dwayne was unable to control them, unable to stem the flow as he purged his body of the truth burning inside. "I don't deserve to be forgiven either-I killed him just as surely as she did."

He was gone before Marko could finish reaching for him, the wind filling the area he had left whipping at Marko's jacket, sending bits of sand into his eyes. He squeezed them shut, more to keep his emotions from spilling out than from any pain the harsh bits of earth brought.

When he blinked them open again-needing to see where the bench was before he sank into it-he was greeted by a pair of light brown eyes which searched his face, a dozen questions filling them. He checked the hair for the golden highlights, which seemed to glow even more in the bright lights of the Boardwalk, but the action wasn't necessary, for he remembered her face all too well.

He collapsed down onto the wooden bench, feeling the grooves worn into it from too many mortals throwing themselves and their baggage onto it and dropped his face into his hands.

A small hand brushed his shoulder, accompanied by the oh-so-quiet words that suddenly meant more to him than all of Dwayne's anger had.

"Want to talk about it?"

*~*~*~*

Rilly bounced, actually bounced, into the main room of the cave, her dark curls shaking along her back as she moved. Paul glanced up when she bent over the back of the couch he sat on, her hair swinging forward to tease the side of his cheek.

"Want to go to the Boardwalk tonight?" she asked, pressing both hands to his shoulders. He tilted his head back until he could see her face, his eyes brushing over her pale skin and dark hair, the flashing brown eyes and the bright white teeth glinting within her deep red lips.

"Of course," Paul returned her smile and Rilly flung her hands around his throat, hugging him tightly. She peppered his forehead with kisses, soft and warm and he laughed, the sound filling the room, which drank it in as if dying of thirst.

He stood and Rilly released him, turning towards the exit before she noticed that he was heading in the opposite direction. The first twinge of misgiving rumbled in her stomach as she called out to him.

"Paul, where are you going? The Boardwalk is this way."

"Just wait a moment, please," Paul glanced over his shoulder to smile at her encouragingly, but didn't stop his steps from heading towards the hallway that led to Anna's room. "I just need to ask Anna if she wants to come too; she hasn't been out of the cave in so long."

"You want to ask-Anna-to join us?" Rilly's words spilled out in a slow, breathless cascade. She didn't breath after pushing them out, not until her lungs burned and her chest throbbed for need of oxygen.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Paul stopped, turning fully around to face her, for the tightness of her question bothered him, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. By the time he could see her completely, she'd begun shaking, the fine tremors moving her arms visible.

"She always comes first to you!" Rilly exploded, her gypsy temper finally rearing its head. Spurred on by her own thoughts and fears and Shauna's planted words, she couldn't hold back the torrent of emotion, didn't even try to. "Why does she always come first? Anna is Dwayne's, Paul, not yours-at least she's Dwayne's normally."

Paul felt his face crease into a frown as her words swept over him with all the power of a torrential downpour. He eased his way back across the room, wanting to draw close enough to touch her, to comfort her, without upsetting her further.

"You always have to be near her, you're trying to get her to go out with you all the time!" Rilly snapped, her hands jerking through the air at her sides as her motions grew more violent. "Are you obsessed with her?"

Her tirade halted when he spoke, the words coming soft and hesitant. "I was," he admitted. "For a long time." Rilly collapsed down onto the couch, her hands rising to clutch at her forehead. Paul finished crossing to her and dropped down onto the coffee table so he was at her level. He pried her hands away from her face with care, then held them in his own as he spoke.

"When she first became a vampire," Paul kept his words calm, though a certain heaviness gave them more weight than if he had shouted them from the tallest tree, "Dwayne and David fought each other-and themselves-so hard just to possess her. I guess I got caught up in that, without even realizing it. And once I had her… "

"Had her how?" Rilly broke in, her eyes narrowed at his face. Paul sighed, then lifted one of her hands to his lips to brush a faint kiss over it before he dared to answer his question. His fingers tightened around her for fear that she would draw away.

"We had sex on the beach one night when she was mad at both David and Dwayne because they were trying to possess her-I didn't plan for it to happen, but it did." True to his instincts, Rilly tried to jerk her hands away, but Paul held them steady and continued. "I was addicted after having her once-because I couldn't have her again."

"Stupid man," Rilly sniffed, turning her head away to hide the emotions written across her face. "Wanting only what you can't have."

Paul nodded, his eyes bright with surprise. Never before had he actually considered why the beach scene had happened, or what the consequences of it might be, beyond the immediate ones from Dwayne and David. Talking it through now, though, his mind was opened to so many truths he wasn't sure he could handle them all.

"She's become my best-friend, Rilly." His eyes widened as the next thought became clear, and it was prefaced by a brilliant smile, one that Rilly took to mean many things it didn't and again tried to free her hands. "I don't want her anymore though. I… "

"You what?" Rilly pressed when he didn't continue the sentence. He lifted both hands to his lips, pressing kisses to the tops of them then turning them so his mouth could brush her wrists again and again.

"I want you, Rilly," he murmured, the hesitation in his voice betraying his sudden shyness. Rilly jerked her head around to stare at him, her lips parted in shock, and Paul took that as an open invitation to cover her mouth with his, their hands pressed together between their bodies as he kissed her.

It was unlike anything Rilly had felt-sweeter, more hesitant, and far more desperate than anything she had even known to exist. Her hands tightened on his as she tried to draw him even closer, lost in the emotions trembling not just within their mouths but in their hearts as well.

When at last she drew away from him, only to draw a ragged breath of air into her body, Paul smiled down at her, not his usual, persistent smile, but one that was gentler-and truer.

"Have you-have you ever talked to Anna about what you just told me?" Rilly asked hesitantly, surprised at herself for bringing up the other female so soon, but she had felt Paul's lack of closure in his words-and in the kiss. If dealing with it would bring him happiness, she would ignore her jealousy.

"Of course not," Paul laughed harshly, the sound aching after the warmth from before. "When would I do that? While she's draped over Dwayne? Or fighting with him? How about when she was close to dying? There was just never a good time."

"Make time," Rilly told him, extracting one hand from his so she could stroke his cheek. "Things seem so raw between you two, so tense and unfinished. I think you'll both feel better if you talk."

"Maybe you're right," Paul admitted, pressing his face into her hand. "Talking is good in a relationship-any kind of relationship. Maybe I'll make time to talk to her soon."

"That's good," Rilly leaned forward to kiss him once more, then ducked her head, fighting the shyness and worry still filling her body. "And I'm glad you feel that way about communication because… "

"Because you have something you want to ask me?" Paul completed the sentence when she wouldn't, for it was written in every line and shadow on her face. "Ask away, Rilly, I'll be honest."

"I was born and raised to kill you and your family, Paul," Rilly spat out, her eyes flashing with her anger at her history and her people. "Does that bother you?"

His silence was long and thick and answer enough in Rilly's mind.

*~*~*~*

"Didn't I tell you to stay in at night?" Marko tilted his head to look up at the girl, but she flashed a smile at him-though he had to admit that smile was more a baring of teeth.

"I don't take orders well," she murmured, then patted his shoulder again. "Want to talk about it?

"Talk about what?" Marko asked, scooting over on the bench and motioning for Sprite to sit next to him. She dropped down, then turned sideways, drawing her knees up to her chest and planting her feet onto the seat.

"About whatever has you so upset," Sprite told him calmly, not bothering to be taken in by his half-hearted attempt to avoid the subject. "And about whatever made your friend-disappear so quickly."

"You saw." The words could have been a question-they were not. Marko's shoulders slumped forward and he pressed both hands to his face again, squeezing his fingers against his skin until white marks stood out.

"I saw. That's not the point. What's wrong, Marko?" she tilted her head, her eyes filled with curiosity and-surprisingly-worry for him. He turned to look at her once, then jerked his head around until he could gaze out at the ocean again.

"One of my friends, Anna, did something that another friend, Laddie. And Dwayne-the guy you saw me talking to-doesn't think we should forgive her. A lot of people seem to think that-but a lot of us think we should. It's turned into this big argument, and is splitting the Pa-our friendships in half."

"What'd she do that was so bad she can't be forgiven?" Sprite asked, dropping her chin to rest on her knees, her gaze focused steadily on Marko's face. The play of the bright Boardwalk lights on his skin entranced her, for it lit him up one moment and bathed his face in shadows the next, though neither he nor the lights were actually moving.

"She hurt him-really badly. He's pretty sick right now, so everyone is worried about him too, and that's not exactly helping the situation. Dwayne can be so stubborn at times; I'm sure if he forgave her, things would turn around with everyone else. He is her ma-man after all. If anyone should be on her side, it's him," Marko struggled to keep the conversation clear of any references to abnormal things that might tip her off-though he realized it was a mute point now that she'd seen Dwayne take to the skies as he had.

"And you're trying to get him to forgive her?" Sprite allowed the words to be a question, though she could tell by the expression on his face, and Dwayne's oh-so-sudden disappearance that it was true.

"I don't know what else to do," Marko admitted, pressing one hand through his curls, standing them on end for a moment. "Anna's in trouble too-she's shutting down and won't even come to the Boardwalk to eat. If something doesn't change soon, I'm afraid she's going to just-die. Fade out until there is nothing of her left, at least not the important parts."

"Shouldn't you focus on helping Laddie to get better then?" Sprite asked, tilting her head as she continued to watch him, though now it was to take in his reactions to their conversation, not just to be able to appreciate the beauty of his face. "I mean, that would solve the whole problem, wouldn't it?"

"We have a-doctor of sorts helping Laddie," Marko explained. "And there is nothing any of us can do beyond that. Besides… " he trailed off, dropping his face back into his hands to hide the pain in his eyes.

"Besides what?" Sprite placed one hand on his arm, her fingers trembling as she waited for him to jerk away. He remained still and she began to relax, her touch growing firmer.

The sound of the waves crashing on the beach in front of them filled the silence as Marko contemplated whether he should admit the truth to this girl, this-mortal. "I'm not sure that would solve the problem," he said at last, turning his head until he could look at her. "At least not for Dwayne. His problem is that she turned on us, her family, and even if Laddie survives, I don't think that Dwayne will be willing to forgive her. We take betrayals very, very seriously."

"But it was an accident?" Sprite's fingers began to move, miniscule stroking motions down his arm until she reached his wrist, then slid her fingers along his hand, entwining with his.

"More or less," Marko allowed. "But that doesn't matter, not to Dwayne. He thinks she should have been able to stop-what happened, and nothing can convince him otherwise. He's acting like such a hum… " He stopped a moment before the entire word could slide out, but it was more than enough for Sprite, who jerked her hand out of his.

"Why do you say things like that?" she spat out at him, shoving herself backward until she hit the end of the bench, the force of her movement threatening to spill her onto the ground. "Like you think less of them?"

"What do you mean?" Marko tried to stall for time, an attempt that would have failed had he tried to continue it. His mind took in all her words then, and he jerked his head up, turning his heavy gaze to her face again. "What do you mean, them?"

"I-don't… " It was Sprite's turn to stall and she turned away, staring out at the turbulent waters as Marko had for so long. He reached for her shoulder and she leapt off of the bench, sailing over the back in a move that no human could have pulled off.

"Sprite, wait," Marko called after her, but she was gone, lost in the teeming mass of humans that filled the Boardwalk until he thought it would burst-or his mind would, sending him spiraling down into the depths of insanity. And now, with the problems with the Pack, and this new interest who was more than she seemed, he wasn't so sure that insanity would be an unwelcome thing.

*~*~*~*

"Why would you even think such a thing?" Paul burst out, just when Rilly had given up all hope that they'd be able to salvage the tatters of their relationship. She looked up at him, her hair falling away from her face and leaving her expression open and fearful.

"I-I don't… " Rilly dropped her head back into her hands, the tears forming behind her eyelids even as she struggled to blink them away, refused to let them fall. He still hadn't answered her question and she gagged on the air she sucked in, knowing that this was it, this was where he left her, even if it wasn't for Anna.

"Rilly," Paul placed his hands lightly on her shoulders, pressing on them until she had to sit back and lift her head or have her shoulders popped out of place. "I could never think of you as the one who should have attacked us; it never really crossed my mind. You're just Rilly, the human who works at Max's video store, and who I used to flirt with, not thinking anything would ever come of it-but it did."

He pressed his lips to her forehead when the words became too hard for him to admit; the faint brush of silk-like skin steeled his courage and he found that he could continue. "I care for you so much that it doesn't matter, Rilly, I promise you that. Now why did this become a thought for you?"

"Shauna said something," Rilly mumbled, dropping her chin into her chest, most of her words of explanation too low for even Paul, with his enhanced hearing, to follow, but he got the gist of it and snarled within his head, afraid that the sound would frighten the fragile human in his hands.

"I don't care what Shauna thinks," Paul assured Rilly. "She's wrong. It doesn't bother me at all-what does bother me is that you were worried about this and let it fester inside you for any amount of time before you came to me. Talk to me, Rilly-we both need to work on that."

"You're right," Rilly wiped at her eyes, dashing the remaining tears from her face and smiled up at him. "Now go talk to Anna so we can leave already. I think I've got cabin fever-or maybe that's be cave fever."

"Not tonight," Paul stood, drawing her up with him, though confusion lit up the mortal's face. "Maybe tomorrow night. Tonight is for you and me; we need this alone time. We'll work on getting Anna out of the cave tomorrow-together. Tonight we're going to the Boardwalk, and we're going to have a wonderful time."

Rilly's laughter danced through the cave as Paul dragged her towards the stairs, up, out, and into the night. Once the sound of his bike had faded to a dull thrum, Marko stepped from the shadows near the entrance, where he'd hidden the moment he'd heard their voices, not wanting to interrupt what had seemed like a serious discussion.

His head still ached from the joint confrontations with Dwayne and Sprite, but after his unavoidable eavesdropping, he had more pressing issues to deal with, issues that he might just be able to do something about.

"Shauna seems to have her finger in every pie," he murmured to himself as he crossed the room, then locked himself into his own private sleeping quarters, though sleep would not come to him for hours, long after the others had returned and the sun had risen to fill the sky with its light.

He had to do something to stop the vampire from terrorizing the others, without alienating parts of his Pack, before she did something that would destroy them-forever.

*~*~*~*

"You're back." Anna perched on the back of the couch, her bare feet resting on the cushions below. Adam nodded, though it was more a statement than a question and he knew that. "Come here, you two."

Victoria started forward first, sliding her hand into Adam's and leading him from the entrance into the darkness of the main room. Few of the lights were on, but the murkiness matched the tone in Anna's voice.

"What can we do for you, Anna?" Adam sank down onto the low table in front of the couch and after a moment Victoria joined him. Anna shifted, pressing her hands flat against the top couch as if to push up and stand, but she remained where she was.

"You've done more than enough for me," she told them, fighting to keep any emotion from her voice. She wanted them to have the freedom to react to her next words without the meaning being tainted by her feelings. "It's because of that that I have to talk to you."

"You mean our feeding you," Victoria leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Her gaze focused on Anna's face, and though a flicker of fear flashed through her eyes, it was gone before she could draw in a breath. "What's going on?"

"David explained some things to me earlier, things that if I had known, I wouldn't necessarily have done what we did," Anna admitted. She ducked her head, but forced herself to look at them when she spoke again. They deserved that much respect, at the very least.

"So you will be able to control us?" Victoria asked when Anna was done relaying David's explanation to them. Anna nodded, her movements slow, reluctant even, and Victoria's head dropped. "This is bad."

"I'm sorry," Anna's own head came down and she stared at her legs, not looking at them again. She didn't want to see the disappointment, the fear, the anger in their faces, and by looking away, she didn't have to deal with it. Yet.

"And we can't erase this bond between us?" Again Victoria spoke, sparing a glance up at Anna. When the vampire's head shook back and forth, the werewolf groaned and pressed her face into her hands.

"I am sorry," Anna repeated, unable to look at them and see the damage her words were doing. Sometime over the past few feedings, she'd developed a bond with them, one besides the wolf to vampire bond that David had spoken of. They had become friends, more than friends really, people she relied on for her sanity and happiness. Again she felt her world crumble around her.

"Why are you sorry?" Adam's words brought both women's eyes up to his face and he waited until he had their full attention to continue. "This gives us all more strength, more abilities. The only downside is that someone has power over us, but we trust you, Anna. I trust you. I know you're not going to control us just because you can."

"I would never," Anna broke in, pushing her words out with as much conviction as she could. She wouldn't, either; just the idea of being able to control others was enough for her, she didn't have to act upon that power.

"Then there isn't a problem, is there?" Adam continued. He stroked one hand down Victoria's cheek, then leaned forward to pat Anna's knee. "We knew there were risks going into this, Marko made sure of that before he let us take action. It was worth it then, and it's worth it now."

"You mean you don't want to stop?" Anna slid down to sit on the couch correctly, leaning forward so that her knees brushed theirs. "You'll still let me feed from you?"

"I insist," Adam's chuckle rolled along her skin, inciting darker emotions than she was used to dealing with, at least with anyone who was not Dwayne. "When you feed, it is amazing, and I'm not going to give that up. If Victoria wishes to… "

"No." Victoria shook her head in denial of his offer. "He's right. I've never felt anything like having a vampire drink from me. The damage is done, what damage there is, and it will harm us no more to continue to feed you."

"Promise you will not take advantage of this," Adam leaned forward again, this time to run his fingers across Anna's face, from cheek to cheek, just brushing her lips as he did so. "That's all I need."

"I promise," she spoke against his skin, and then repeated herself when he pulled his hand away, wanting her words to be unmuffled. "I promise I will not control you." The desperate air around them was broken when a large yawn opened her mouth. Victoria giggled, then dragged Anna to her feet, and the two werewolves escorted the exhausted vampire back to her room.

"Sleep, Anna, I'll be in tomorrow." Victoria assured her as they tucked Anna into bed, pulling the covers up around her body. She smiled up at them sleepily, but couldn't find the energy to speak. One at a time they leaned over and pressed their lips to her forehead; not erotic kisses meant to make her react, but gentle ones, kisses that soothed her into a dreamless sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Paul opened the door to Anna's private room before the sun had even set the next night, his anxiety over their pending conversation, even if Anna didn't know it was coming, enough to wake him up long before he should have blinked open his eyes.

Anna was asleep, much to his surprise. He had long since assumed that she slept irregularly, and had doubted that she would have slept much longer than he did, if at all. Even at rest her face was tense, fine lines creeping through her pale skin until she looked old-mortal old even, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, broad as they were, but still not enough to withstand the pressure.

His heavy gaze was enough to wake her from whatever peace her sleep might have brought. Anna jerked upright, though her eyes opened far slower, the murky light within them giving away how hard it was for her to wake up fully.

"We need to talk," Paul crossed to her side and perched on the arm of the couch, gazing down at her. Anna slid across the cushions until a space was cleared for him, but he didn't leave his seat, enjoying the height advantage it placed him in.

"About what?" she mumbled, wiping at her eyes with her fists, trying to scrub away the last bits of sleep and drive the cobwebs from her mind. Paul waited until she gave him her full attention, her expression filling with curiosity as he searched her face for a reaction when he spoke.

"About sex on the beach," he told her, his voice devoid of any anger or other such emotion. Anna's head jerked up, a difficult feat for she was already gazing up in order to maintain eye contact.

"What?" The single word trembled, the four letters carrying far more weight than a monologue of epic proportions could have. Paul slid down the arm of the couch until he sat on the cushion next to her, more to ease the strain on her neck than a silent statement of their equality.

"Why did it happen, Anna?" Paul asked, trying to get his questions out before she brushed off the conversation-not that he would let her ignore this. They'd pushed it under the covers for far too long as it was.

"I-I don't… " Anna searched for words to answer his question, her mind still too twisted from the painful dreams that had filled her sleep to find a way out of this difficult conversation, or at least an escape that didn't involve leaving the cave completely-something she couldn't do for a good forty-five minutes.

"Did you really want me?" Paul asked, forcing himself to voice the more difficult questions, even when his stomach churned and his tongue seemed to melt into a thick paste. "Or was I just an unequal substitute for Dw-him?"

"You weren't a substitute, Paul," Anna assured him, her voice still shaking, though she struggled to control it. Out of her all her actions in the beginning, this was the one she had hidden away the most, the one she should have known would come back to tear into her carefully constructed walls when she least expected it. "I did want you-who wouldn't? I just… "

"You just what? You were just mad at Dwayne, and I was a warm body to fill your emptiness?" though Paul's words seemed bitter, his voice was anything but. His shoulders slumped as he dropped against the back of the couch, pressing his head into the softness, resignation filling each syllable. "I was just there. End of story."

"That's not true, either," Anna argued, leaning forward until her blonde curls covered her face. With her eyes hidden from his gaze-a gaze that seemed to cut through her as her crossbow bolt had Laddie's chest-she found the words falling from her lips much faster, the conversation easier to deal with if she didn't have to see him. "You make it sound like I would have gone off with anyone who crossed my path-even a human. I wouldn't have. You might have been there, and that might have triggered it, but I wanted you, Paul. You were always so-so helpful, so friendly. You were a welcome break from people constantly fighting over me."

"I adored you," Paul admitted, his voice dropping to a whisper, though it wasn't because he was trying to hide the words from her ears. It was more that the confession-and that's exactly what it was, a confession-carried such weight to him that it couldn't be blurted out, but instead dropped, syllable by syllable, until the truth was heard at last. "You were beautiful-are beautiful-but it's more than that. You're power was intoxicating. And you were-I couldn't have you. You were Dwayne's, and if not his, then David's at least. No room for me in that equation."

Anna opened her mouth to argue with him, but Paul touched her shoulder. Even that faint brush of skin to skin caused her to fall silent, freeing him to choose his next words carefully, letting the silence between them build the meaning and importance of the situation.

"And then you came to me and it was-it was good. Better than good, but that's not the point. I had never tasted such power. I don't even like my elevated status as a vampire, and being with you made me want more. I wanted to drink you, devour you until you answered to no one but me, until I could call you my own and rise to a level of Master that I had never imagined I'd even believe in, much less want to attain."

"But David said… " Anna trailed off, pressing her fingers to her eyes to keep the tears from falling, tears that she didn't quite understand why they were there, but the emotions were too much, choking her as they boiled from her stomach, through her throat, and up into her feverish mind.

"I know," Paul touched her shoulder again, waiting to feel the burning beneath his fingers that he'd ached for for so many months-but nothing sparked within him. "You were an addiction, Anna, made worse because I couldn't have you again. You're dangerous, you and your power, because you make me-make us-want to be better men-better vampires. Your strength isn't in your vampire-self, or in your Protector-self, but in your influence on others-and that's a wicked thing indeed."

"I didn't-I don't mean to control you," she whispered, her teeth tearing into her lower lip when she finished speaking. She'd never felt so awful, so ugly and cruel, not even when she'd faced Dwayne after her first betrayal of him, not even when she'd shot Laddie and destroyed the pristine view she held of her world.

"That's why it's wicked," Paul replied, then leaned forward to press a kiss to her bare shoulder. "Anna, I still adore you-but I don't want you anymore. It's too-you burn too brightly, you'll take me with you when you sail towards the stars, a dying phoenix. I can't handle your passion-but I can handle your friendship. I want your friendship. This is what we were supposed to be, my sweet Protector, before we both-before I lost sight of what I needed to do."

"You-you don't hate me for sucking you in?" Anna breathed the words out, lifting her head until her bright, liquid eyes could meet his. Paul shook his head, leaning forward to kiss her shoulder again, then drew her into his arms, hugging her until she thought her ribs would crack and shoot shards of bone into her useless internal organs.

"I couldn't hate you," he told her. "But I can't love you either. I want to help you-I want to be a friend to you. Can I do that? Can we have a friendship, Anna? Will you please let me help-will you let me in?"

"I-I can… " Anna stumbled over her refusal, then groaned and sank into him, pressing her hot face into his shirt, her tears almost scalding him through the fabric as they fell.

"I'll try, Paul," she forced the words out when the crying fit was over, her energy spent on letting go of the agony she'd kept bottled up inside until it threatened to boil her alive.

"That's all I can ask," Paul reminded her, brushing his lips over the top of her head. "Now, because you're going to let me help you, will you go with Rilly and me to the Boardwalk. I want-we both want you to join us. It will be-fun."

"I don't think so, Paul," Anna automatically shook her head, refusing his request almost before it was completely voiced. He pressed her for a different answer, his voice lifting an octave until he was almost begging, but she remained firm.

"I'll be fine, Paul. This conversation-really helped." She smiled at him brightly, then began to shoo him away with quick twists of her hands. "Go on. I just want to finish something up; maybe I'll catch up with you later. Go on now, have fun."

Paul stood, his movements dragging with his reluctance, but eventually she forced him out of the room and on to Rilly. Anna shut the door to her room once more, waiting for the faint click as it settled into place, then withdrew the latest little leather notebook she was filling and began to write, the pen darting across the page faster than a mortal's eye could follow.

*~*~*~*

Anna didn't look up when Marko entered her sanctuary, settling down on the other end of the couch even as he watched her continue to write. He said nothing, letting the silence build around them, refusing to be the first to break it-an altered version of a staring contest, but one that would prove effective indeed.

"Hello," Anna said at long last, though her eyes remained focused on the paper, as if she was intrigued by the flow of blue ink from her pen as it spread across each perfect, straight line.

"I finally figured out what you are doing," Marko answered her greeting, careful to keep his words at ease and friendly, trying hard not to let the building anger inside him explode out, shooting emotional shrapnel into his on-edge friend.

Anna's head whipped around so she could stare at him, her lips parted, for a long moment. At last she regained her composer and glanced back down at the book clasped in her hands, forcing herself to respond to him in a way that might make up for her terrified reaction.

"And just what am I doing then?" she chirped, the sound forced and thick with worry despite her best efforts to keep her voice normal. Marko clucked his tongue, the sound staccato hard in the aftermath of his revelation.

"You're writing your history-our history," Marko told her, drawing her gaze to his face once more. "You're writing about the Protector and what happened, because you are going to leave us."

Anna ducked her head, her eyes pressing shut in spite of herself, and those slight movements were answer enough to Marko's unspoken question. The answer was driven home when she didn't refute his statement, but refused to look at him.

"What happened to you, Anna?" Marko snapped, the faint tremble in his voice the only betrayal of the emotions surging ever closer to the surface, pressing against his tight, but fragile control. "Where is your passion? Where are your guts, your drive to take action and make things right? You aren't the Anna you were, vampire. Who are you?"

"Of course I'm not the same as I was before," Anna's voice cracked and she had to swallow before her desperate explanation could continue. "I killed Laddie, remember? That's enough to change anyone, especially the Pro… " She stopped, unable to say the word, for she'd broken the trust, destroyed the obligations it had placed upon her.

"He's not dead yet!" Marko launched himself to his feet, fury radiating from his slender frame, an anger that none had seen from the vampire, more emotion that Anna had believed could possibly roll beneath his calm exterior. "Why do you all keep cursing him? He might still live. And Anna-so you shot him. Why aren't you doing anything about it? You're losing everything, and instead of fighting for it, fighting for your Pack, you watch it fade like the night to a sunrise. What are you thinking, girl?"

Anna took his anger, took the frustration entwining in his words, the agony and desperation she herself had felt so long. She knew no other way to handle the situation than to take it, to draw it into her skin and offer what little comfort her listening ear might give to a member of her Pack.

"You're our Protector, Anna," Marko reminded her as he dropped back onto the couch, his fireball of emotions spent at long last. "Why won't you do something to help us instead of feeling sorry for yourself and running away?"

"You're right." The words weren't the words Anna had wanted to say, weren't the calm phrase she'd pieced together in her mind. Instead she felt her lips move without warning, heard the sentence drop into the air where it hung, heavy and undeniable.

She tried them again, forcing them over her tongue when she stumbled. "You're right. I should be doing something-more than what I am. I've lost-I'm losing the most important people in my life-I can't just sit here."

Anna surged to her feet, hesitating only long enough to press her lips to Marko's forehead in silent thanks for his continued support and the final kick in the ass that she needed to be knocked from her funk, then disappeared, leaving her room for the first time in weeks, her plan finally solidifying in her mind.

Marko gathered her journals, shutting the single open one, then tucked them away with care, ignoring his deep-set desire to read the words she'd placed there for posterity. He put them away without reading them, more from the sharp jabs of understanding in his mind than any great will power.

"`Can't just sit here,'" Marko echoed Anna's phrase, then nodded to himself. "I can't either, Protector, and it just might be time for me to take some of my own advice." He was gone then, out of the cave and onto his bike before his swirling thoughts could catch up with his instinctual actions.

He'd have the truth-no matter the cost. And there were so many truths to be had.

*~*~*~*

David flicked the key on his bike to the off position and the motor died with a shudder, though the hum of an engine remained steady in his ears. He turned in time to watch Dwayne pull up next to him, the younger vampire's gaze focused away from his leader.

David grabbed Dwayne's arm before he could even alight from the bike, and he dragged him into a nearby bar, ignoring the startled looks of the customers they shoved past in an attempt to reach the counter.

Once each had a bottle of beer in one hand, David turned to stare at Dwayne balefully, his eyes chipped like broken glass, cutting and bloody. Dwayne returned the gaze without fear, his body almost vibrating from the need for blood and pain, the desire to cut into something until the ache in his chest could be banished or healed.

"You're killing her," David ground the words out, his teeth pressed so tightly together that Dwayne-in the one corner of his mind that was separate from any of his present thoughts-expected them to shatter into white granules of dust.

"She deserves the death." The words came easier each time he said them, though still the pain in his chest flared up, the flames licking at his heart and threatening to force his body to spontaneously combust.

David wanted to hit him, had his fist in the air and flying towards Dwayne's face before he caught himself and came to his senses. Instead he slammed it to the wood, causing bottles of beer and glasses of heavier alcohol all along the counter to jump, spilling their fermented drinks on the table.

"It is not your judgment to make," David reminded his lieutenant, his voice sliding from his throat as if over broken glass. "It is mine. I have declared her forgiven; you are refusing a direct statement from your leader when you speak such blasphemy."

"She killed one of her own," Dwayne downed half the bottle of beer in one long drink, his face stoic even when the bitter liquid burnt his stomach. "She broke the first rule of our Pack; you are wrong in forgiving her. Your judgment is cloudy; mine is not. I break no law of the Pack with my desire to see the correct punishment."

"She didn't set out to hurt Laddie!" David exploded, this time slamming his beer bottle down onto the counter, the bottle shattering under the impact and shooting tiny slivers of glass deep into his palm. He ignored the pain as he gripped both hands into tight fists, half rising from the bar stool. "If she wasn't in control-and she wasn't-then she does not deserve the punishment."

"You are a fool," Dwayne spat the words out as harsh as he could, for each second spent in David's presence, each heartbeat spent listening to David's words in her defense, brought him one step closer to losing his grasp on what he believed to be truth.

"To give her up over this… " David finished standing, wiping his injured hand on his jeans to remove the blood. "You are the fool." Dwayne looked away first, focusing his gaze on the blaring neon light above the bar.

David turned to leave, letting his voice drift over the loud music and thudding sounds of humanity to twist around Dwayne's head as he picked his way through the crowd. "Your strength is great, Dwayne, and growing stronger every day-but I will not let you destroy our Pack."

Dwayne downed the rest of his beer in a thick gulp, ignoring the rebellion of his stomach as he did the pain radiating from his chest, trying to fight its way into his mind to clear away the extraneous thoughts.

*~*~*~*

Star hesitated in front of Michael's house, wiping her hands on her skirt, which caused the glittering folds to swish about her legs. Had she still been mortal, or even a mere half-vampire, her palms would have been damp with nervous sweat, but she was not, and the gesture was more to prepare herself for the inevitable than to dry her fingers.

When she knocked, the sound was louder than she'd intended it to be, echoing throughout the house; she winced, jerking her fist away from the wooden door. Footsteps sounded inside, heavy thumps with the occasional squeak thrown in, a sure sign that someone in tennis shoes was running for the door.

"Oh," Sam caught himself from finishing the sentence with a rude phrase, because he was expecting the Frog brothers, who still hadn't returned his calls. The sight of Star, her head bent down so that her hair tumbled over her shoulders, the thin black tank top covered by a lacy shawl, was not what he had expected, and it left him tongue-tied for a moment before he held the door open fully so she could enter.

"Is Michael home?" Star whispered, almost afraid to speak too loudly on the off chance that the vampire might hear and leave again before she could talk to him. Sam nodded and shut the door behind her slender body, then led her into the kitchen, much to her dismay.

It was a family dinner, of sorts, and Star wanted to back out and leave them in peace when her gaze fell upon the food filling their plates and the adults surrounding the square table. Michael's eyes stopped her from leaving; when her gaze met his, his dark orbs were filled with pain and uncertainty.

"Can I speak to you?" Star's lips and tongue stumbled over the words. They tasted foreign in her mouth-a strange, unkempt phrase that she wasn't used to. "Please?" Michael nodded and pushed his chair away from the table, excusing himself with words born of habit and years of training.

When Michael let her into his old bedroom, still filled with memorabilia from his former life, human odds and ends that Lucy couldn't seem to find the heart to pack up or throw out, Star found herself unable to speak.

"What do you want?" Michael's words were sharp and he wanted to retract them, but couldn't think of a good way to do it without taking back the question as well. Though he'd spent hours brainstorming with Sam, he still didn't know why Star was so angry with him, not really, and had no idea how to get her back. For her to arrive on his very doorstep was like a miracle, and though Michael had no plans to waste the offering, now that he was faced with her, he didn't know what to do, or how to do it.

Star couldn't look at him, not when anger carved lines deep into his face and his body was beyond her touch, possibly forever. Instead she began a slow circuit of his room, her slender fingers brushing over his belongings, the posters on the wall, the tiny treasures he'd collected as a child.

"Do you feel responsible for that-for Anna?" Star's words caught Michael by surprise and he whirled to face her, turning his body to follow her trek around his room. "Is that why you forgave her so quickly?"

"I do," Michael admitted, though a long silence stretched between the question and his reluctant answer. "If I hadn't killed her, things would have been different. This whole thing would never have happened."

"You don't know that," Star argued, turning to face him at long last. A small part of her mind noted that the discussion-if it could be called that-had taken a turn away from her plan, as she was now comforting him instead of arguing her point, but the majority of her thoughts were focused on Michael. "She would have still become a vampire, you know that. Do you think Dwayne would have let her stay mortal for long? Do you think David would have?"

"She might have left," Michael argued, though his soft tone gave away his disbelief in his own words. "She might not have been chosen to attack us, to kill Dwayne and David. Laddie might not have been hurt."

"And he still might have," Star stopped before she could comfort him farther, holding up one hand. "But whether or not you're responsible for Anna-and you're not-is not what is important here. The important thing is that she broke our first law, and you forgave her!"

"I broke that law," Michael sank down onto his bed, his gaze focused on Star's face. "She was practically one of us when I killed her. She was already Dwayne's mate, even if she didn't know it yet. When I took her as my first kill, I hurt one of our own-but I wasn't punished and all was forgiven."

"That's different," Star placed her hands on her hips as she stopped dead center in front of him. "You had to make the kill-she fought you, came at you with blood on her throat. You were only a half, you had no control. Of course you were forgiven."

"Anna had no control," Michael reminded her, scraping the fingers of his right hand through his dark hair. "Even less than I, because she was under a spell. Besides, there is more. David hurt her, when he and Dwayne were fighting over her and who should be able to claim her. He was forgiven."

"Again, that's diff… " Michael interrupted Star's disagreement before she could finish her sentence, rising to his feet as he did so and crossing to her until their bodies almost touched.

"Even Dwayne hurt her, yet she forgave him. David hurt Paul, but he was forgiven. The entire Pack tried to tear each other apart that night, though we forgave each other after. Some things just happen, Star, and this was one of them. We're vampires; the stakes are higher when it comes to fighting."

"She hurt him so badly though," Star fought to hold on to her tight control, but a low whimper vibrated her words, and Michael was on her, his arms tight around her waist, drawing her to lean into his body.

She sank into him, tears streaking down her face to soak into his shirt, silent sobs shaking her slender frame. Michael smoothed his hands through her hair, whispering quiet words of comfort as she let her emotions spill forth at long last.

When Star's bout of crying was over, Michael sank down onto the bed, drawing her down to perch on one of his knees. "I know she hurt Laddie," he assured her, wiping away the remains of her tears with his fingertips. "But she wasn't in control, Star, and that has to mean something. You can be mad at her, you can even hate her, but she doesn't deserve to be killed for what she did. You might think so now, but you'd regret it when Laddie was healed."

"What if he doesn't heal?" Star whispered, one hand tightening on his shoulder. Michael lifted his head until he could press his lips to hers, hoping that his silent affirmation of love and caring would be enough to soothe the pain still shadowing her eyes.

"He'll heal," Michael murmured when they drew apart. "Have faith in that, Star. Laddie will get better-he has to." Star nodded and buried her face in his throat, a mistake if ever she had made one.

He had finished feeding less than ten minutes before she'd shown up, and the stolen blood slid through his veins, calling out to her with a thumping rhythm that she couldn't deny. Before she even realized what she was doing, Star's fangs scraped along Michael's skin, sinking inside when he made no move to stop her.

As her fangs pierced his throat and she sank down into him, so did their bodies sink down onto the bed, forgiveness flowing with the blood and other bodily fluids they would share that night; vampire comfort in the only way they knew how.

*~*~*~*

Anna crept into Laddie's room, only stepping inside fully when she realized it was deserted. She wondered briefly where Star had gone off to, but decided not to worry, instead thanking whatever higher power that would listen for the almost-empty room.

She sat down on the edge of Laddie's bed gingerly, her worried gaze focused on his face. His color had almost completely returned, leaving him with the appearance of simple sleep, instead of this darkness that nothing could rouse him from.

"Oh, Laddie," she whispered, drawing one finger down his face. "I didn't mean to do this to you; I'm so sorry. If I could fix it-I'd do whatever it took." She dropped her head, one hand lifting to press to her forehead, though no headache would come to drive away her thoughts, not now that the damage was already done.

as they were being said I wished those words were dead  
they grow and grow and grow in our heads  
they linger, linger and haunt us days on end  
"Stay Awhile" -Soraya

"I'm going to go find Dwayne tonight," she whispered after glancing at the door to make sure it was still shut tight. "To try to fix things between us. I can't take much more of his apathy-Paul told me he doesn't hate me. There are so many things worse than hate. You'd know that, you'd understand, if you would just wake up."

Her voice broke and she collapsed down onto the bed, even in her agony being careful to not land on his tiny body. She pressed her face to the covers and let the tears flow, icy drops down her pale cheeks.

it was all in a moment of anger these daggers that I threw  
they're still deeply embedded into you  
I swear I fear there's nothing I can do  
"Stay Awhile" -Soraya

"If he can't understand-if he won't understand," Anna continued, her face still buried in the quilt covering his body, her words muffled by the fabric. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know what to do to make him understand. Laddie, please wake up. I need you-need your advice, need you to be better so things are fixed."

stay a while young is the night  
give me a chance to set things right  
don't you throw away those years of love  
over one night when the love went wrong  
stay a while young is the night  
give me a chance to set things right  
don't you throw away those years of love  
over one night when the love went wrong  
over one night when the love went wrong  
"Stay Awhile" -Soraya

"I couldn't shoot him," she whispered as she sat up, scrubbing at the tears still rolling down her cheeks with the palms of her hands. "Oh, why did you have to be so brave? Why couldn't you just-not be a hero?"

Anna gagged on the words, now pressing both hands to her stomach to stop the roll of bile and waves of nausea that threatened to overwhelm her and spill her dinner, drawn from Victoria earlier, onto the pristine quilt.

I can see it in your eyes in the way you look at me  
mistrust has now replaced intimacy  
I feel you drifting drifting far from me  
"Stay Awhile" -Soraya

"Not that I blame you for not trusting me," she admitted, her voice weak. "Nor do I blame him. I'd already shot him once, and I did promise him I wouldn't miss a second time-the first promise I broke. Laddie, I'm so sorry for what I did to you-and to him. And to my Pack."

stay a while young is the night  
me a chance to set things right  
don't you throw away those years of love  
over one night when the love went wrong  
over one night when the love went wrong  
"Stay Awhile" -Soraya

"Some Protector I turned out to be," Anna snarled, shoving her blonde curls out of her face with impatient hands. "Couldn't even protect my family from myself." She choked, burying her face in her hands again, though this round of tears tapered off faster than before.

"I can't just sit around and cry, mope, write, whatever I was doing for so many weeks," Anna wiped away the tears again, steeling herself for what was to come. "Marko told me that-knocked some sense into me. You'd be so proud of him, Laddie. He's really starting to show a backbone-and you always knew it was there. They're growing up, that's one good thing that this situation has done. We're all growing older so fast."

I swear, I will fight this  
I vow not to lose  
I'll be damned if this destroys us  
I'll be damned if I lose you  
"Stay Awhile" -Soraya

"I'm going to fix things, Laddie," Anna nodded her head, then pressed both hands to his arm, willing him to move beneath her touch-but he did not. "I'm going to go have a round of-negotiations with D'ara. She'll fix you yet, I'll see to that. And then I'm going to make things right with Dwayne. I have to-I don't know how much more of this I can survive."

stay a while young is the night  
give me a chance to set things right  
don't you throw away those years of love  
over one night when the love went wrong  
stay a while young is the night  
give me a chance to set things right  
don't you throw away those years of love  
over one night when the love went wrong  
over one night when the love went wrong  
"Stay Awhile" -Soraya

"Not that I have a choice," she continued, carefully bending over to press her lips to his cool forehead. "Because if I don't survive this, what right do I have to ask you to survive? And survive you must, Laddie, or I don't think the Pack will. No pressure, kid, but you're important to all of us-the glue that was holding us together, it would seem. Get better, Laddie, please."

She stood, stopping only once to dash the tears from her eyes and set her shoulders firmly, then continued on to the door, opening it with a smooth flick of her wrist. She stormed out, shutting it behind her quietly, then hurried off towards D'ara's room, not noticing the silent watcher tucked away in the shadows.

Shauna waited until Anna's footsteps had faded in the distance, then hurried for the nearest exit from the cave, needing to reach the Boardwalk with enough time to do some talking before her sister could make it there.

Anna's newfound stubbornness shouldn't have surprised her, though it did. She should have been prepared for it, after knowing her as a child, but Shauna had forgotten the vein of steel that ran through Anna's core. She shook her head as she took to the skies, racing time to the city. It didn't matter what Anna planned on doing; she'd take care of things her way, regardless.

*~*~*~*

Bottles of beer, empty save a drop or two in the golden brown bottom of each, surrounded Dwayne's spot at the bar when Shauna barged in, not bothering to hesitate at the door so her eyes could adjust to the darkness as a human would.

Dwayne didn't look up when she flopped onto the bar stool next to him, instead keeping his gaze on the worn wooden counter, the nicks from the hundreds of bottles broken there during fights creating a spider web pattern. A new bottle of beer drooped listlessly in one hand.

"Pathetic," Shauna spat out, the taste of human sweat and excrements from the heavy air in the room thick in her mouth. "You sit here, wasting away as if you were human, instead of doing something to rectify the situation that has driven you to this-stupidity."

Dwayne turned his head to look at her, his eyes sliding half shut, though he hadn't had enough alcohol to overwhelm his enhanced senses. She leered at him, the flash of her white teeth bright in the dark gloom, then lashed out faster than even his gaze could follow, her hand striking him upside the head and sending him reeling on the stool.

"Anna dared to visit Laddie tonight," she snapped, her glare cutting through the dimness, her words hitting Dwayne harder than any physical blow could have. "Why do you let her continue to exist? She could have hurt him farther; if you'd take things into your own hands and punish her, you wouldn't have to worry about him."

"Anna saw him?" Dwayne forced the words out past the lump of emotions in his throat, though they were so tightly twisted together he couldn't quite tell where one ended and the next began-nor could he quite decipher what each individual feeling was.

"Alone even," Shauna snarled at him, though her hands remained in her lap for this round of the conversation. "No one seems to care, not even you anymore, but it's her fault that he was hurt in the first place, and now she's visiting him, alone, as if she has some right to mourn for him after what she did. Do something, Dwayne! Or are you as weak as the others, unable to see what's right in front of your..."

Her words were cut off when Dwayne swung at her, his fists tangling in her shirt. He lifted her into the air, then threw her in an arching toss that sent her crashing down onto one of the pool tables across the room. The wooden legs shuddered under the force of her landing.

Shauna's laughter tore from her tight throat, easing the pain in her cracked back, even as the bones began to knit themselves together again. The sound shattered Dwayne's mind and drove him out of the bar, twisting through his head even when he forced his way into the crowds surging along the Boardwalk, heading towards the outdoor concert, the sound of her laughter driving him onward, an unstoppable force that wouldn't end until he'd faced his destiny.

*~*~*~*

The Boardwalk pulsed with energy, human energy, though it was more than enough to set Anna on edge, taunting her senses until she feared her body would boil with the fire the call of their blood started within her gut.

More humans than normal filled the beach, spilling up onto the concrete area pressed between ocean and arcades, the rides twisting overhead almost empty. She had had no idea that a concert would be going on that night, and almost chickened out. It had been too long since she'd walked among the mortals, and she wasn't sure she remembered how to play human. That, coupled with her ever-present tension over facing Dwayne at long last, kept her vampire face close at hand, her fangs just barely hidden.

The wind picked up, bringing her the tangy scent of ocean-and under the salt, a darker flavor, one steeped in blood and anger-a smell she could taste on her tongue as well as take in through her nose. It filled her mouth, her head, her every sense, driving out the mortals, driving out any thought that didn't pertain to him.

Dwayne was nearby, somewhere within this very crowd. All she had to do was find him.

That proved more difficult than Anna could have expected. Just as she narrowed down the area from which the scent of vampire was coming from, more creatures of the night registered on her senses and she groaned, pressing her hands to her face. She didn't need the additional distraction, but there it was, in the form of the four band members crossing the stage, their every movement screaming supernatural predator, even if the audience couldn't see it.

"Good evening," the lead singer's voice filled her ears as Anna tried to push her way past the stage, her movement hampered by the humans shoving closer to the stage, trying to capture the attention of the preternaturally beautiful creatures about to perform. "In case you didn't catch our last gig, we're Patrick's Left Ear, and no, we still don't know what it means."

Laughter bounced off Anna's skin as the humans fell under the vampire's spell. She felt herself turn, though she didn't realize just what she was doing until her gaze came to rest upon the speaker, and for once she understood some of the attraction the humans must be feeling. The open leather vest set off his pale skin, bared from his lack of a shirt, and for half an instant she wondered what it would be like to touch. The black motorcycle boots, to her surprise, brought her back to the adventure at hand and she turned away before he spoke again.

"I'm Flip, as most of you may remember," his microphone-enhanced voice continued to surround her as she pressed past the mortals, going so far as to shove them out of her way, though there were so many the ones she pushed merely bounced back into place. "And I'll be on lead vocals. Black Hirsch is back on the ivories, and Dallin Damian continues to burn the skins. We're trying out a new guitarist though, so go easy on him, dig? We're hoping this one works out." He motioned to the last vampire to take the stage, and Anna should have looked up, should have given into the curiosity that had been building in her gut. "This is Billy. And of course, we'll do the cover tunes, then a few of our latest attempts at music. But first, `Black Celebration' by your favorite, and mine, Depeche Mode.'"

Sound effects and Dallin's soft sweep of brush over cymbals started the song, one that Anna was vaguely familiar with. She finally escaped the crush of humans around the stage and hurried on, catching Dwayne's scent beneath that of the other vampire's at last. In the more open beach at the edges of the crowd, her movements weren't hampered as much as they had been and her steps picked up speed.

Let's have a black celebration  
Black celebration  
Tonight  
"Black Celebration" -Depeche Mode

Dwayne could feel the disturbance twisting through the crowd, though his head was full of too many conflicting thoughts to pick out just what was prickling at his senses. He wrote it off to the vampires climbing onstage, and turned his face out towards the ocean before he'd taken everything about them in.

To celebrate the fact  
That we've seen the back  
Of another black day  
"Black Celebration" -Depeche Mode

Paul's words, spoken so long ago, played through his mind like a CD on repeat, the same litany over and over and over again. He couldn't quite place his finger on why now, of all times, he was filled with worry for Anna.

His stomach twisted at the mere thought of her name and he pressed his hand to his face, his nails digging into his skin until tiny white crescent marks were left and the pain drove away his brooding thoughts.

I look to you  
How you carry on  
When all hope is gone  
Can't you see  
"Black Celebration" -Depeche Mode

Anna stopped when she saw him, her entire body simply ceasing to move. No heartbeat stirred within her heavy chest, no vibrations marred the stillness of her arms, not even her blood slid through her veins for an instant.

He stood, gazing out to see, his arms crossed over his chest. The faint wind that had brought his scent to her stirred his hair, lifting the dark tendrils up so that that they danced with the breeze, a paler darkness than the night sky.

Anna wanted to run to him, fling her arms around him, and lose herself in his aura, the essence that gave him his power, the simplicity of him. When she remembered she couldn't, when the heavy notes of the song echoed within her head, a driving undertone to the truth surging through her, tears burned behind her suddenly closed eyelids and her nails tore at her palms.

"Dwayne," she whispered his name when she could finally approach him, the single syllable falling like a prayer from her torn lips. He turned his head slowly, too slowly, as if he were gauging her reaction before he could even see her.

Your optimistic eyes  
Seem like paradise  
To someone like  
Me

I want to take you  
In my arms  
Forgetting all I couldn't do today  
"Black Celebration" -Depeche Mode

Dwayne's first instinct was to open to her, not only his arms so he could envelop her and surround her with himself, but his throat for her fangs, and his eyes for her perusal of his soul.

He couldn't, not to her, not after what she'd done. Walls crashed down, iron doors slammed shut behind his dark irises, and his arms pressed tight against his sides for fear that they would reach for her of their own accord.

"What?" he heard the word before he'd decided to speak and winced inside, berating himself for reacting to her even this little bit. Shauna's words picked up where Paul's had finally been silenced, circling again and again to drop the information that Anna had dared mourn over Laddie-mourn the one she'd injured in the first place.

Black celebration  
Black celebration  
Tonight  
"Black Celebration" -Depeche Mode

Anna pressed her hands together behind her back, squeezing her pale fingers against each other until she feared one or more might snap off and fall with a soft plump to the ground.

His gaze swept over her, so empty of any real emotion, and she wanted to burst into flames, wanted the sun to rise and turn her to dust, for being dust, a final death, anything had to be better than to have to face her mate and learn he no longer felt anything for her-the apathy was more than she could stand. Even hate would have been better, for the embers of hate can be fanned into a fiery love.

"I'm sorry," she whispered her words again, knowing they weren't enough, knowing they were far too much, knowing that she didn't know what to say to make things right, to ease the tension filling her body or the distance spreading between them.

To celebrate the fact  
That we've seen the back  
Of another black day  
"Black Celebration" -Depeche Mode

"You're sorry?" Dwayne echoed her, his voice thick in his throat, though it sounded bland to his ears. His gaze swept over her again, his chest twisting when he noticed the shadows beneath her eyes, the tautness of her skin, though color flooded her body, a color that could have only been brought on by fresh blood-and a lot of it.

"I am," she nodded, one foot shifting as if she had started to move towards him then thought better of it. A small part of his mind egged her on, wanted to know what his tightly controlled body would do if it had to touch her, feel her skin beneath his hands once more, but he shook away the wild thoughts without moving his head in the slightest.

"Sorry does nothing," Dwayne's words remained calm, but an underlying growl forced its way to the surface. Anna nodded, tilting her head down so that her now closed eyes looked like they were focused on the sand at her feet. She struggled to keep the tears simmering within her eyes from spilling forth down her cheeks, and the small breeze tossed her hair into her face as if it wanted to help.

"What do you want from me?" Anna breathed the words out when she felt ready to face him once more. She lifted her head and didn't bother to draw her own walls up, and instead let him hold her gaze, her emotions running a gauntlet through the blue orbs.

"I want Laddie back!" Dwayne snarled, moving forward one dangerous step, unable to stay away from her when she was feeling so much, unwilling to let himself give in to her siren call.

"I'd give my life to heal him," Anna yelped, pressing one hand to her mouth to stop the strangled sob. Her fingers trembled visibly as she withdrew them and dropped her arms back to her sides.

I look to you  
And your strong belief  
Me, I want relief  
Tonight  
"Black Celebration" -Depeche Mode

An image burned itself through Dwayne's mind, though his eyes beheld no such sight. The idea of Anna's death, even when he had been calling for it for so long, cut through him and Dwayne winced, the action visible to even the most human gaze.

"You should." The pain twisting in his stomach, the frustration, both at her actions, Laddie's inability to heal, and his own crazy reactions to both, causing him to lash out at her, for she was the only target present. "Death is what you deserve. I'd rather him alive and you dead… "

Consolation  
I want so much  
Want to feel your touch  
Tonight

Take me in your arms  
Forgetting all you couldn't do today  
"Black Celebration" -Depeche Mode

Dwayne stopped, but it was too late. Even as he reached for Anna, his hands actually brushing against her skin at long last, she was gone, lost to the dark sky, her strangled sob the only sound he could hear, though the music continued to beat around him, driven on by preternatural fingers on musical instruments.

"Anna," Dwayne whispered, his face wrinkling into a frown. Peace soothed its way across his features and he knew everything was happening as it should, knew that things would be all right.

Until he collapsed to the ground, his body overwhelmed by the realization of what he'd just done. He pressed his hands against the sand, trying to shove up and away from the beach, take off after her, stop her from the foolish idea he'd planted in her head, but his body was too heavy, his fingers sinking into the rough granules.

By the time he was able to take to the air, she was gone, no trace of her remaining anywhere on the Boardwalk. With quick movements he returned to the cave, searching her room, then the main room for any sign of her.

He collapsed down onto his couch, his boots clunking against the floor as Rilly and Paul entered the room. Paul immediately turned his gaze to his friend, taking in the expression on his face-the same as one might wear when waking from a life-long coma-and dropped to the table in front of him, leaving Rilly, her curiosity and worry plain on her face, in the doorway.

"What have you done?" Paul gripped Dwayne's arms, shaking him until the older vampire turned his eyes toward him. Dwayne's mouth opened, but no words escaped until Paul shook him again, causing his head to flop like a rag doll's.

"I've killed Anna," Dwayne whispered, staring down at his hands as if he expected to see her blood staining them already. "It's just a matter of time now." Paul released him, rocking back, unwilling to be near the other vampire a moment longer and Dwayne stifled a sob, his brown eyes wide with terror.

*~*~*~*

Marko had never searched the Boardwalk for an individual mortal before, not on his own. Even when looking for the Pack, there had always been someone else with him, at least one someone else, often many, except for the one night with Dwayne.

He'd never known just how hard it was to seek out one person when the crowds filled the Boardwalk until there wasn't a single empty spot left for him to watch from, much less stand still and wait till she came by. The task was made even more difficult because he couldn't feel her inside his head, like he could the members of his Pack.

After a few moments of ineffectual searching, Marko left the screaming crowd of concert goers and headed back to the neighborhood he'd first seen her in, losing himself in the shadows once more, though he would have happily sat beneath the street light until she saw him and came.

His vigilance paid off. After less than an hour in the tree, he saw her turn the corner and start down the street, her steps growing hesitant as she looked around, as if she could sense his gaze upon her. He shrugged the thought off and decided her reluctance was because she'd been attacked there once before.

His simple explanation was destroyed when she spoke.

"Come down, Marko," Sprite called out, pressing her hands to her stomach in a nervous gesture. "I know you're watching me." He dropped from the tree without a sound, a frown deepening the lines of his face as he approached.

"How did you know I was there?" His question caused her to sigh and he continued to move towards her, not sure why he was so attracted to her, so drawn to her pixie features.

"I could smell you," she admitted, staring down at her hands, unwilling and unable to meet his eyes. Marko stopped before her, but she continued to speak even as he opened his lips to question her further. "Vampires have such a peculiar scent, not one I'd confuse with anything else. And yours is like a thumbprint; I can tell it from the others."

"What are you, Sprite?" Marko asked, pressing his fingers to her chin and pushing up until she looked at him, her brown eyes bleeding to a bright yellow. He watched, open mouthed, as her beast swam to the surface, though the energy about her felt like nothing else he'd encountered before. "Were-but not a werewolf."

"A wolf?" Sprite's lips twisted in disgust and she jerked her chin out of his grip. "Never. Smelly dogs, the whole lot of them. I'm wereleopard, I'll have you know." Marko pressed his lips together tightly to hide the surprised sound that threatened to escape.

Again he cursed the arguments that kept his Pack from speaking to each other. Had Dwayne been himself, he could have warned them about the entrance of a werefeline, could have taken one look at Sprite and explained her difference.

"A kitty," Marko felt his lips twist in a smile when she purred at him, wrinkling her nose at his reaction. The tension faded between them, lost beneath his teasing tone and her desire to be accepted.

"A kitty," she agreed, wiping one hand through her hair so that it danced beneath her touch. "To my eternal… "

"Why did you get so upset when I was down on mortals?" Marko asked, his real reason for seeking her out jabbing at his mind to make itself known again. Sprite's sigh was deeper and held the hint of a hiss, a cat's cry of unease.

"I want to be human so bad," she admitted when he caught her gaze again. One of his hands lifted to press to her cheek and she turned into him, a low purr vibrating her throat. "When you use them as a bad example-it hurt. I'd give my eye teeth to be human again."

"What happened to you, that you became a leopard?" he asked, guiding her over to the curb. They settled down, closer together than should have been proper, but both were too preoccupied to notice.

"I was attacked one night, got tore up," Sprite explained, gazing off into the darkness, her eyes shining with an animal sheen. "Because I survived it, I got the distinct pleasure of turning into a cat at least once a month. It's why I came here. My father-he's a bounty hunter for preternaturals. Imagine that, his own kid, his only child, one of the animals he was hunting. I ran."

"Surely he wouldn't have killed you," Marko protested, remembering his own youth, as misspent as it had been. Sprite sighed, dropping her face into her hands to hide the shimmering that signified the proximity of her change.

"He would have skinned me without batting an eye." She held up one hand to ward off his words of sympathy. "Up until the night I was attacked, I would have too. Don't pity me, Marko, I understand where he's coming from. I just couldn't bear to die, not yet."

Silence stretched between them, broken only by a stray note or two carried on the wind from the beach concert. Sprite found her head tilting down towards his shoulder before she caught herself, and she clasped her hands against her knees.

"Things are-bad-right now," Marko broke the silence, his words coming with much hesitation between them. "But they should be better-eventually. And when they are-I'd like-would you want-dinner maybe. Or an introduction to my friends?"

"I'd like that," Sprite turned her head to smile at him, not realizing that he was already looking at her, and their faces were close when she faced him. Too close. Her breath brushed his cheek, sweet and warm, and Marko groaned, leaning forward.

His lips had just barely brushed hers, the faintest kiss, almost not enough pressure to label it as such, when a scream carved through his mind, sending him reeling backward. Sprite was on her feet, bending over him, her eyes glowing with her beast, worry and anger at whatever had hurt him lurking inside.

"I'm fine," he groaned, then pressed to his feet, stroking one hand down her cheek. "But something's wrong with my family-I have to go. I'm sorry, Sprite, so sorry. But later-do you think?"

"You know where to find me," Sprite caught his hand as he pulled it away and pressed her lips to it, her extended canines brushing his skin though she wasn't trying to draw blood. The move brought low groans from both their throats and Marko was gone, leaving Sprite alone, the wind whipping at her face, her inner cat riding high.

Soon enough the woods would shake with the terror of her hunt as she attempted to dispel the energy and tension Marko had left her with; a dark shadow leaping from tree to tree in a whirlwind of power.


	6. Chapter 6

Fed up with my destiny  
And this place of no return  
Think I'll take another day  
And slowly watch it burn  
"Beautiful Goodbye" -Amanda Marshall

Breaking into Max's house was the easy part. Lucy and her boys had only locked the doors, not even bothering to close the latch on the gate. The back entrance had proven the ideal point to force her way inside.

Dust had settled in only the most isolated corners of the room, though it had been months since anyone dared to enter the building. An aura of malevolence continued to hang about it, a dark shadow that drove any human away, but Anna reveled in it.

It was upstairs in Max's old room, empty of windows but filled with crumbling boxes, that her quest for answers began to reach an end. Inside the cardboard, stashed away in neat piles, was book after book, most bound in leather, some in human skin, the chronicles of vampire life and the rules of surviving.

It doesn't really matter how the time goes by  
Cause I still remember you and I  
And that beautiful goodbye  
"Beautiful Goodbye" -Amanda Marshall

Anna skimmed through the first box easily, most of it the information that David had begun teaching her so recently. She gave up on the second box, realizing that the sheer volume of information here would make her task near impossible.

Something prickled at the back of her neck and she whirled around, staring at the empty closet-or so she believed it to be empty until she crept closer. There, not hidden away inside any box, lay a small stack of journals, matching the ones that she herself was filling with her own personal story.

The first one sent shards of hope carving through her body. It was filled with facts on vampires that she'd never heard, powers that she'd never dreamed possible. The second matched it and she tossed it aside after only a moment, though she made a mental note to check it out at a later date.

We staggered through these empty streets  
Laughing arm in arm  
The night had made a mess of me  
Your confession kept me warm  
And I don't really miss you, I just need to know  
Do you ever think of you and I  
And that beautiful goodbye  
"Beautiful Goodbye" -Amanda Marshall

The third was her salvation.

Anna's blue eyes tore over the lines of neat handwriting, chronicling all the known ways of healing a variety of injuries that vampires might incur during their life. She flipped each page carefully, not wanting to miss a single word that might give a solution to Laddie's illness.

Only once did she set the book down to rest her burning eyes, and that was a mistake, she learned right away, for the expression on Dwayne's face when he'd told her-when he'd said what he had earlier-refused to leave.

She dropped the book to the floor and almost levitated herself to the bathroom, barely making it to the porcelain toilet, a luxury that Max hadn't needed, but must have kept around to help with his charade of humanity, before her stomach emptied of the blood she'd drank earlier in an explosion of red and thick gagging that brought tears to her eyes.

*~*~*~*

 

When I see you now I wonder how  
I could've watched you walk away  
If I let you down  
Please forgive me now  
For that beautiful goodbye  
"Beautiful Goodbye" -Amanda Marshall

"You killed her?" Marko's voice flooded the main room of the cave and he collapsed down onto a chair, almost missing the seat as his body threatened to rebel against Dwayne's words. The other vampire nodded, returning his face to his hands, hands that were still clean, though everyone stared at them as if they should be covered in blood.

"Do you know where she went?" David grabbed his leather trench, flinging it to the ground a moment later when he realized it still carried her scent, an aching smell that brought a tightness to his throat which made it hard to speak.

"If I knew, I'd go after her," Dwayne forced the words out past his fingers. Paul touched his shoulder, wincing when his friend jerked away. Dwayne didn't believe he deserved the comfort, not when he'd so much as driven a stake into his mate's heart.

"What can we do?" Victoria turned her gaze up to David, imploring him with her eyes to fix the problem, to bring back the vampire she'd bonded with. Adam was in terrible shape, his strength draining with every second his mind was left open to the various scenarios of how Anna could be taking her own life even as they spoke of her. He'd feel it if she tried though, wouldn't he, and be able to save her?

"Maybe she'll come back," Shauna offered from her spot in the dark corner, chosen so the shadows would fall over her face and keep whatever reactions she couldn't control hidden.

"You'd better hope she does," David turned to focus his eyes on Dwayne, the expression on his face boring into his second more painfully than even the crossbow bolt to Laddie's heart. "You'd just better hope she does."

*~*~*~*

 

In these days of no regrets  
I'll keep mine to myself  
And all the things we never said  
I can say for someone else  
Cause nothing lasts forever, but we always try  
And I just can't help but wonder why  
We let it pass us by  
"Beautiful Goodbye" -Amanda Marshall

Anna almost passed out in surprise when her gaze fell upon the word "Protector," scribbled along the top of a page halfway through the third book. She fell upon the information it offered, devouring it and locking it away within her mind.

And by the time the sun rose she was beginning to know what she'd have to do. She wasn't ready to do it, but she knew the sacrifice it would take to save Laddie. Her mind twisted around the words she'd told Dwayne, and she knew when the sun set again she'd be ready.

She had to be.

When I see you now  
I wonder how  
I could've watched you walk away  
If I let you down  
Please forgive me now  
For that beautiful goodbye  
"Beautiful Goodbye" -Amanda Marshall

Only one other group of vampires had ever been given a Protector, and though Anna still didn't know why her Pack had warranted one, or why she herself was one, she had learned that the position held more power than David could have known about, or he would have never given up on controlling her.

She'd also learned that she had healing abilities beyond any other vampire to exist-ever.

Dwayne's face flashed through her eyes when she took to the air, the thin book clasped to her chest, as the final rays of light disappeared over the horizon. She knew they would have remained awake late into the morning, though she wasn't quite sure how this information had come to her, and she planned to take advantage of that. If they were awake when she arrived at the cave, she'd hide and wait until they left.

It wouldn't do to have one of them try to stop her sacrifice-but by the time the sun rose and then set again, Laddie would be alive to greet the darkness, to comfort Dwayne at long last.

Even if she would not be.

*~*~*~*

The front of the cave was deserted when Anna stumbled into it, tripping over a rock that shifted beneath her boots. She caught herself as she fell forward, slamming her free hand against the wall where rough rocks cut into her skin.

Immediately she clamped her lightly bleeding palm to her mouth, tongue working to stop the flow before the others could smell it. She hurried through the main room, noting the absence of the werewolves, but she didn't have time to discover where they might have chosen to sleep instead.

The door to Laddie's room was cracked open and she slid inside without moving it much, not shutting it all the way in case the closed door would be a warning sign to anyone walking passed.

No one stood vigil over the injured vampire, and though Anna still questioned the lack of members of the Pack in the room, she didn't bother to do it for long, instead settling herself down next to Laddie.

With shaky fingers she drew back the covers keeping him warm, letting herself see his pale, weak body for the first time since she'd shot him. The wound should have healed by now, leaving only the slightest scar, if any-but it had not.

Pus leaked from the edges of the puncture wound, as she found out when she carefully pulled the bandage off of it, setting it to one side. She pressed the tip of a nail to the end, and then lifted it to her nose, breathing in the scent of decay.

She'd caused this, she'd harmed this small vampire, this brother of her mate, and she would be the one to make things right. Because of her moments of weakness her Pack was falling apart, splitting up, the distance carving itself between them an insurmountable space that she already feared would never be closed.

Anna set the book down on her knees, open to the pages sprinkled with mentions of the Protector and her healing powers, then withdrew the ornate oriental knife from the sheath at the small of her back. Two animals were designed onto the flat of the blade, a snarling wolf and an overly large cat, twisting together in battle, though it wasn't clear if they fought each other or some other danger.

To her utter relief, the Latin phrases in the book had been translated to English. She would have never been able to pronounce the words had they not been, for the extent of her foreign language ability was a working knowledge of Spanish.

Carefully she placed the knife down on top of the book, then pressed her hands together, drawing in deep, slow breaths to cleanse her body and prepare her mind for the task at hand.

She took as long as she dared to prepare, for any sort of magic was beyond her, and she would have given almost anything to have been able to ask Rilly for help, or even D'ara. She couldn't though, not when this was her fault and she had to take care of it, and Anna drew in one last breath, her mind focused on the task at hand.

She slid the pointer finger of her right hand along the edge of the knife, the freshly sharpened blade slicing through her skin as if it were butter. She pressed that same finger to Laddie's forehead, the blood spreading across his pale skin, leaving a brilliant stain.

"Blood of my blood,  
Hear me, oh creatures of blood.  
Flesh of my flesh,  
Hear me, oh saviors of flesh.  
Soul of my soul,  
Hear me, oh angels of soul.  
Spirit of my spirit,  
Hear me, oh keepers of spirit."

Anna lifted her finger away, pressing the still bleeding digit to her own forehead to seal the bond between them. The moment the blood came into contact with her body, she could feel a tightening inside, and the darkness filling Laddie's mind opened itself up to her unseeing eyes.

She lifted the knife again, drawing it across her left wrist, then pressed that wrist to Laddie's mouth. She leaned forward so that she could tilt his head up and push his lips open, letting her blood drip directly into him.

"It was I who did you harm.  
And I who will ease your pain

Listen to my call,  
the call of the Protector,  
your Protector,  
And be healed."

She reached for the small bottle she'd prepared at Max's with her right hand, ignoring the twinge as the cut on her finger healed itself. The thick, black liquid smelled of earth and salt, but she pressed the bottle to her lips and gulped it down, trying hard not to gag on the chunks of herbs inside.

The blood dripping into Laddie's mouth began to fall faster, the drops running into a constant stream of redness, now peppered with darker bits that seemed to glow when they fell into the blackness of his small mouth.

"Spirit of my spirit,  
Soul of my soul,  
Flesh of my flesh,  
Blood of my blood,  
Be healed.

Blood of my blood."

Still Laddie lay unmoving beneath her arm, and Anna whimpered, pressing her right hand to her forehead even as she squeezed her left hand into a fist, causing the blood to run out even more freely.

And it began to take a toll on her, the wash of magic through her body, the steady loss of blood when she hadn't eaten properly in over twenty-four hours, and her last meal had been forcefully ejected from her body.

Darkness that was not brought on by her link to Laddie began to tease her senses, plucking at the edges of them until she would have given anything to be hit by one of her old headaches, though they were what had started this mess in the first place. The lack of feeling that came with the blackness terrified her.

Anna feared more than anything that she'd lose consciousness before she could fix Laddie; worried that her flow of blood would run out before the magic could work its power on him.

As she slumped sideways over his still body, her mind being stolen by the blackness bit by bit, she knew her fears were coming true.

The Protector had failed-again.

*~*~*~*

It was the scent of fresh blood that first gave away the fact that someone new had invaded the cave. It permeated Laddie's room, then began to creep around the door, an invisible mist darting down this hallway and up that one, teasing across the werewolves' noses until they growled and opened their eyes, and tormenting the vampires until they came awake from their exhausted rest.

The scent was dark, thick, and tantalizing, smelling of life and death and plants of the earth; a heady smell that lured them on without allowing them to recognize the source, though a good number of them should have.

Dwayne pushed open the door to Laddie's room an inch at a time, reluctant to reveal what was inside, his mind leaping to the worst scenarios possible. None of what he considered came close to the scene that met his eyes.

If I lose you  
I will be  
a ghost of someone I used to be  
floating in and out of darkness  
numbed to silence by the loss  
"If I Lose You" -Soraya

Anna lay across Laddie, his body unmoving beneath hers, his lips stained with her blood. Her wrist remained near his mouth, the only color on any of her skin found there, where dried blood clung to the edges of the cut. Her hair spilled out away from their heads, covering the folded-down quilt like a wash of sunlight on a clear day.

Dwayne stepped inside, and then faltered, not sure who to go to, though worry for them both twisted inside his gut. He started to move again, stepping towards Anna and opening the doorway behind him so the others could spill inside.

Without you life would fade  
my days and endless haze  
and all I would crave  
is to hold you once again  
"If I Lose You" -Soraya

Shauna grabbed Dwayne's arm as he moved forward, stopping him in his tracks. Her hand clenched convulsively, leaving white marks in his darker-than-the-normal-vampire skin, her nails digging in to draw faint drops of blood.

"What are you doing?" she hissed, leaning in until her lips were close to his ear. Dwayne tilted his head towards her, the move so slight it almost wasn't visible. "She deserves this, this is her punishment for killing Laddie. You know this better than any of them."

Dwayne hesitated, letting her words sink into his mind. Her fingers relaxed, retracting from his arm as Shauna triumphed over her victory. In a movement too fast to be seen, he shoved her away, throwing her into the edge of the door. The bones in her back, still not quite healed from the last time he'd savaged her, started to crack again, though no laughter left her lips this time.

Thick coughing broke the silence following his move as the Pack remained still, stunned by the sight before them and by Anna's actions, for only Marko had put two and two together and actually come up with four.

Their gazes jerked back to the bed where Laddie sat up, pale and thin enough to reveal his ribs, but moving, one tiny hand pressed to his mouth as he coughed away the remnants of the injury.

The wound on his chest was healed, leaving only a small, star shaped mark in its place.

If I lose you  
I'll pray for rain  
to come and drown the smoldering pain  
that would burn with every breath  
with every sigh of emptiness  
"If I Lose You" -Soraya

"Anna!" he gasped out when the coughing fit was done. Laddie reached his little hands out for her, but Dwayne was already there, lifting Anna until she rested against his lap, cradled in his arms as if he expected her to break.

"Anna, oh Anna," Dwayne whispered, stroking her hair out of her face with one hand. "What have I done to us-to you?" Laddie hovered over them as much as he could, with his body as weak as it still was, though strength began to slide through him, brought on by the spell and his Protector's blood.

Dwayne jerked one hand free and placed it to his own lips, biting into it savagely, his fangs tearing long gashes through his skin. He pressed the wound to Anna's mouth, pushing down so hard that her own fangs, still visible, caught the holes and slid inside. Her throat remained still, even as he forced the blood down it, and he finally made her swallow by rubbing her neck almost savagely.

Shauna shrieked, ignoring the throbbing in her back to fling herself forward, claws outstretched and aimed for Dwayne's heart. Marko caught her around the waist and flung her backwards with such force that when Shauna hit the door again she broke it, flying with the thick boards out into the hall, one particularly well placed piece stabbing into her upper stomach, driving up into her chest.

Without you life would fade  
my days and endless haze  
and all I would crave  
is to hold you once again  
"If I Lose You" -Soraya

"What happened?" Laddie pressed his fingers to his mouth and brought them away stained with Anna's blood. "What's wrong with her? All I remember… " He stopped, images swamping him, both images from his last night of consciousness as well as images from the conversations people had had with him while he was unaware.

"She did what I told her to," Dwayne groaned, keeping his wrist to her mouth even though he was beginning to think that it was a lost cause. It had been so long since her blood had drained away and she remained so still in his arms-he was out of time, he hadn't been able to save her, not in this incarnation.

The Protector had finally come to the end of her seemingly endless luck-and lives.

I don't think I could survive  
to feel this much and be denied  
if you'll leave  
give me strength to still believe  
"If I Lose You" -Soraya

"Please come back." Dwayne dropped his head over hers, his dark hair hanging like a curtain, blocking them off from the frightened gazes of those around them. Though it comforted him to have the Pack so near, this final moment was for him and his mate-even if he had been a terrible partner for her in the end. "Please don't leave me. I never meant what I said-never got to apologize. Anna, please."

His words fell on lifeless ears, his breath brushing over skin that couldn't feel the passage of air. Dwayne pressed his lips to her forehead, keeping his wrist over her mouth, his tears trailing down the hard lines of his cheeks and onto her face.

Without you life would fade  
my days and endless haze  
and all I would crave  
is to see you once again  
"If I Lose You" -Soraya

Anna's mouth tightened on Dwayne's wrist, digging her fangs deeper into the wound to extract more blood, and faster. He groaned, then jerked his head up when he realized she was moving. One pale hand gripped his forearm, holding him still so she could drink, her throat working frantically to take it all in.

Dwayne winced, his face contracting as she tore at his skin, ripping deeper, though he didn't dare try to stop her, not when she needed the blood so badly. His free hand tangled in her hair, not quite sure if he was trying to hold her off of his wrist or press her closer.

I would pray for just one day  
without you I would face  
please, please ... stay  
"If I Lose You" -Soraya

Anna drank until Dwayne jerked his wrist away, tearing his skin even more. She tried to follow the wound, whimpering when she lost the blood, but he held her still, waiting, until her eyes opened, to speak.

When her eyelids flicked up and that heavy blue gaze met his, neither Anna nor Dwayne could look away-nor did they want to. No breath escaped their lips to mar the perfect stillness that overtook them both.

"You're alive," Dwayne breathed, then curved into her, his lips finding her throat, not to drink, as he wanted to, but to simply press against her, a warm kiss for his mate. Anna slid her arms around him, the hug weak because she still was, but it was an embrace none-the-less, and embrace that they both so desperately needed.

"I'm alive," she whispered, pressing closer to him, his scent and power overwhelming her body. Laddie patted her back and though no one could see it, Anna grinned. "Laddie's alive. We're better."

"Better," Dwayne repeated, lifting his head to look down at her. Worry darkened his already black eyes and when Anna looked up, confusion worked its way into her happy expression.

"What's wrong?" she murmured, lifting one hand to press to his cheek. Dwayne caught her wrist, pressing his face into her touch, waiting without answering, for he knew it would only be a matter of time.

And within the next moment Anna cried out, her free hand slamming to her stomach, the hand he still pressed to his cheek struggling to join it, though he wouldn't let her pull away.

"What's happening to her?" Rilly pressed to Paul's side, staring at the vampires on the bed, confused by the actions and all these things she just didn't understand. Paul pressed one hand to her mouth to silence her, then leaned in so his words could fall into her ear without him having to break the stillness filling the room.

"She took in his blood," Paul explained, his fingers brushing over Rilly's lips again and again. "After being drained. She's going through another change, almost, as if she's becoming a vampire again. It hurts."

"I can see that," Rilly spoke against Paul's hand, but instead of continuing on with her words and making him quiet her again, she stopped, simply watching what was going on on the bed to try to figure it all out for herself.

"I thought you said this wouldn't hurt ever again," Anna whimpered, still trying to drag her hand away from Dwayne's face. He continued to hold her, turning his head until his lips could brush her palm in a silent apology.

"You died, Anna, for real this time. A vampire drained of blood is simply a husk. When you took my blood-your body had to adjust to being alive all over again. That's why it hurts; you're becoming a vampire again."

Anna frowned, her face tight with pain and frustration. Only when the lines in her forehead began to smooth out did she dare speak again, as the tearing at her insides faded into a dull throb.

"Does this mean I lose whatever powers I had built up already?" she asked, her heart clenching at the thought of no longer having the link to Adam and Victoria. When she realized how much the idea bothered her, she sat up, gazing around until she could meet their eyes.

"No," Dwayne allowed her hand to fall from his face at last, one of his hands stroking through her tangled hair. "Just means that you'll take on more of the same powers as your new Sire."

Anna nodded, confusion still filling her body, but the link she'd worried about so much was still there, humming with Adam and Victoria's own worry. She smiled at them, forcing her lips up into a trembling expression, then turned back to Dwayne.

"I'm sorry I betrayed you," she whispered the words, knowing that at last he'd listen. Dwayne nodded, cupping her face in both of his hands and lifting her head until he could brush his lips over hers.

"I'm sorry I was so stubborn and stupid, Anna," he kissed her again, pulling away just as quickly as he had on the last one. She was having none of that and snaked her arms up until her hands could slide into his hair, drawing him down against her.

They kissed. Lips to lips, mouth moving against mouth, heat and need burning through their breath. The built up tension, frustration, and pain that had festered inside for so long spilled out into the kiss, steaming up the room and in great danger of melting the bed as they slid down along it.

Laddie laughed and scooted up to the head of the bed, drawing his spindly legs up against his thin chest. Marko sat down next to him and Laddie leaned into the older vampire, resting his head on his shoulder.

Not even David's eyes were dry when Anna and Dwayne's soft whispers of love could be heard and Laddie scooted away from Marko to hug his almost-brother and sister at once, letting himself be drawn into their tight embrace.

At last.


	7. Chapter 7

"For your continued actions against the happiness and sanity of your Pack…" Marko lifted his voice so that it filled the main room of the cave. Shauna, her hands held behind her back by Adam, dropped her chin down to her chest.

Paul struck her, knocking her head back up so she was forced to face the others, all spread out in a semi-circle stemming away from the three chairs grouped together at the top of the arch.

David sat in the middle chair, affectionately dubbed his throne, his leather trench coat settling around him, the dark color offering an air of mystery and ferocity to his stoic face.

Anna and Dwayne sat on either side of him, wearing matching expressions. Anna, though still pale, lifted her chin, her jaw clenched as she stared down her sister, a confrontation that had been a lifetime in the making.

Dwayne shifted just enough for his hair to fall backward over his shoulders, his own cheekbones standing out in prominence as he waited for Marko to finish speaking, so they could condemn the real traitor to her punishment.

"For a betrayal far greater than any physical action could be… " Marko stepped closer to Shauna, pressing his claws into her throat to draw the blood that was needed for the ceremony. "For the trust you have destroyed and the fighting you encouraged, I give you to our leader and his seconds for a decision."

Marko crossed the room to his three leaders, offering the blood staining his hand first to David, then to Dwayne, and finally to Anna, who barely flicked her tongue over the finger she was to taste.

"You have done us grievous wrong," David's voice, though he kept it low and even, careened off of the walls until it echoed louder than even Marko's had. "For these wrongs, you are banished from the Pack."

"Banished," Dwayne echoed, leaning forward to bare his fangs in a soundless snarl at the vampire. Shauna struggled to look away, but Paul held her chin steady, and Dwayne held her gaze until David spoke again.

"For your greater betrayal, that of family," David continued, his voice never flickering with emotion. "I banish you from Santa Carla."

"Banished," it was Anna's turn to echo her leader, her lips lifting away from her own glittering fangs. While the calmness that filled Dwayne and David's faces continued on to their eyes, hers were too bright, shining with anticipation.

"Leave us, Betrayer, and do not return. If we come upon you again… " David stopped, letting the pause grow between them until Shauna's body began to vibrate with the tension it built. "We will destroy you. Now go."

Paul and Marko grasped her arms, dragging her backward through the main room, and then flung her from the cave. She fell, unable to catch herself, and her body plunged deep into the salty ocean below, where it crashed down upon the jagged rocks that marked the bottom portion of the cave wall. The stones tore into her skin, ripping through the unhealed wound from the wood that had come so close to piercing her heart.

"It is done." David, Dwayne, and Anna's voices rang out as one. A low cheer twisted in the throats of the entire Pack until it burst forth, a raucousness noise of delight and satisfaction.

It was to this that Star and Michael returned to the cave.

They hurried in, expecting the worst from the roar echoing even in the pre-sunrise air above the cave. When they stepped inside to the dancing and cheering, to the sight of Anna and Dwayne embracing, and Laddie's smiling face, Star collapsed and would have struck her head upon the stairs had Michael not dove to catch her.

"What happened?" she cried out when her senses came back. Laddie laughed, the sound darting from one wall to the next as if the stones themselves were happy to hear it again, after so many weeks of nothing.

"I'm better," he launched himself at her and Star fell backward onto the steps again, though this time it was with Laddie clutched to her body, tears spilling down her cheeks, tears that tasted of happiness and relief along with the salt.

The Pack was whole again, finally balanced, and, after almost a year of turmoil, calm.

*~*~*~*

"You're sure you want to be around for this?" Paul stroked one hand down Rilly's cheek, teasing her skin with the faint touch. She blushed, the fire-color spreading across her face and down her throat, but nodded, then leaned in to kiss him.

"No," she muttered. Paul looked down at her, askance, but she continued on before he could interrupt and send her away. "But I need to see this. I'm Pack now, Paul, and you know it's only a matter of time before you make that official. This is my family, and those who betray it will be destroyed. I know this. I need to see this."

"You're right," he laughed and lowered his head to kiss her again, laughter spilling into her mouth. "You're often right. I don't know if I like this situation."

"Of course she's always right," Anna's own laughter followed her words and the couple turned to face her as she entered the hallway they stood in, basking in the warmth of her happiness. "She's a girl. Guys are wrong, Paul, you should know that by now. Always wrong."

He bared his fangs at her, the faint hiss almost inaudible, but when Rilly smacked his chest, the expression faded into the smile hovering beneath it. Anna danced by them, twisting her body through the shadows hanging at the edges of the hallway, then moved on, entering the room at the far end.

"She's crazy," Paul cried out, flinging his head back to regard the ceiling and the jagged rocks dangling toward his head.

"She's happy, silly," Rilly argued, shoving his shoulder with one hand. "And it's about time." Paul whirled on her, wrapping his arms around her waist, then spun her in a quick circle, tossing her up into the air before he set her on the ground.

"Yeah, I know." Paul's face settled into more serious lines as he took Rilly's hand and began to lead her down the hallway. She let him set the pace, though her heels began to drag of their own accord until she concentrated solely on picking up one foot after the other and setting it back down on the ground.

Rilly hesitated in the doorway, one shoulder resting against the wood frame. She wouldn't go any farther in, and released Paul, letting him go to stand with the other vampires in front of the offering.

D'ara sat on the ground, her skirts shredded into thin strips that caught the faint lines of light drifting through the room. The black shirt clung to her upper body in places, soaked with her own blood.

"For what you have done to our family," David intoned, drawing Rilly's attention to him. He stood a mere step in front of the rest of his Pack, the thick black trench coat swirling around his legs, though no one else could feel the breeze stirring it, "you face a sentence of pain. For the pain you have caused us, for the suffering, for turning one of us against our own, you face a sentence of death. For what you have done to Laddie, he will be given the opportunity to destroy you."

No movement gave away the fact that D'ara was listening to what he'd said. None of the others spoke, though Anna and Dwayne drew closer to David's sides, his lieutenants instinctively knowing were they needed to be.

Laddie came from the shadows on the far side of the room, his jacket smooth over his chest. Dark strands of air twisted over his forehead and he shook them away with a quick jerk of his head. Only when he stood next to D'ara's crumpled form did he stop, turning his gaze to David's face.

"I give you retribution for your pain," he intoned, offering D'ara to the small vampire with one pale hand. "She is the cause of your suffering, she will be the cure. Take this symbol of our relief that you have healed, and prove your strength has returned."

Laddie bowed to David, a complete movement so that his back was parallel to the floor. For Anna and Dwayne he merely inclined his head, the smaller move proper treatment of vampire seconds. They returned the nod, and then remained still, waiting for him to drink.

Laddie knelt next to D'ara, though she was taller than he was when he did so. She didn't fight him when he grabbed the back of her head in one hand, twisting her hair around his small fingers.

When he jerked her head back to bare her throat, the pale skin of her neck was already speckled with fallen blood. His eyes flashed and he couldn't help but circle his lips with his tongue.

After one moment of breathing in the scent of her, the power in blood heady in his senses, Laddie struck. His glistening fangs carved into her throat, tearing through skin and muscles until he could enter the main artery.

Her heart continued to pump, thudding faster from her fear, though the only thing to give that fear away was the increased pulse and the smell of her terror around her. The quickened beat of her heart poured the blood into Laddie's mouth and no matter how fast he drank, tiny drops began to trail from the corners of his mouth and trailed down his chin.

The soft sound of his sucking was the only thing to be heard into the room, until the ragged death rattled began to sound inside D'ara's body. Laddie clung to her until the blood stopped filling his body.

Once she was dead, her body stiff within the circle of his arms, he let her fall, her body striking the ground with one soft thud. He stood, wavering from the rush of her blood, then turned to his Pack, offering them a bright, blood-coated smile.

"So it is and so it shall be," Rilly whispered, her words audible to everyone in the room-except for the corpse that was once her overbearing grandmother. "So mote it be, so mote it be now until the end of time."

Her Pack was safe… and her Pack they were indeed.

One Month Later

Shauna had taken the past four weeks just for healing. The shattered bones in her back, the torn throat, the cuts and bruises, and the jagged, open ended punctures from the rocks she'd been thrown upon had taken far too long to heal.

She pushed her way into the bar, ordered a beer, and sank down onto a stool at the counter. She gulped the alcohol, needing to feel the burn of it down her newly healed throat. It wasn't until the bartender spoke to her that she realized this was the same bar she'd met Dwayne in, that one, fateful night when things went too far.

"No fighting this time," he told her. Shauna turned to stare at him, her eyes clouded with the memory of the month of pain along with her new confusion. He jerked his head towards the door, where a tall man had just entered and was heading towards them. "Last time you and your friend were here, you broke one of my pool tables. Don't do it again."

The last was spoken loud enough for the newcomer to hear and he stepped out of the shadows, a frown marring the perfection of his face-along with one jagged burn mark that cut across from his right temple, beneath his eye, and to the left side of his face.

"What are you talking about?" he snarled, planting his thick hands on the counter. The bartender backed up, reaching instead to hand him a beer, the fury in the man's eyes frightening him beyond anything he'd seen in all his years in Santa Carla.

Shauna choked on the drink of beer she sucked into her mouth, gagging and coughing as she struggled to deal with what her eyes were telling her. Her gaze swept over his dark hair and scarred face-and laughter bubbled up, tearing through the choking, a bitter sound that tasted as metallic as a penny.

Standing before her was Dwayne's doppelganger.


End file.
